MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (AP) -- A Monkton man has pleaded innocent to charges that he set a string of fires in Addison County on Sunday.
Lyle Birchard, 37, entered the plea Thursday at Vermont District Court in Middlebury. He was jailed for lack of $50,000 bail.
On Sunday arson fires were reported in Weybridge, Cornwall and Bridport, including two houses, a mobile home, a garage and a car.
The most extensive damage was done to the mobile home in Cornwall, a house on Mountain Road in Bridport and a house in Weybridge.
Police arrested Birchard Wednesday night.
They said Birchard was identified at the first place he tried to start a fire, in a parked car next to the Mister Up's restaurant in Middlebury.
An employee at another restaurant nearby who recognized Birchard told police she saw him next to her car. She said she found a gas can she had brought to town to fill up moved from her trunk to the passenger seat, and that papers and napkins had been placed around it. Nothing was burned.
Police wrote in an affidavit that at least two people saw the fire at the mobile home in Cornwall, including one witness who told police she made eye contact with a man matching Birchard's description.
Police said there were also witnesses from the other fire sites, including the house in Weybridge.
Birchard told police Wednesday that he had been at home all day Sunday, except when he went to pick up his wife at work. He later admitted to setting fire to the car in Weybridge, and described a house similar to the one in Bridport where he told police he poured gas on the garage shelves and lit them on fire.
Birchard has a long criminal history, Addison County State's Attorney John Quinn said at Thursday's arraignment. Birchard was convicted in 1990 for sexual assault and in 2003 for driving while intoxicated, Quinn said.
Birchard was charged with one count of attempted arson, and five counts of first- and second-degree arson. If convicted he faces up to 36 years in prison.
