Groton Town police arrested William Celtruda, 21, of 286 Judson Ave., and charged him with first-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief.

Celtruda is being held on a $100,000 bond at the Groton Town police department and is expected to appear in New London Superior Court today.

After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Celtruda turned himself in to police. He is a probationary member of the Mystic Fire Dept., according to police, who said they are investigating two other fires in the area and expect to make arrests in those cases soon. They consider fires at Little Gull Lane and West Mystic Avenue, which occurred Aug. 12, as suspicious.

Frank Hilbert, chief of the Mystic department, said he will release a statement today. He did not want to provide specifics on how long Celtruda has been with the department or other details Wednesday night.

A probationary firefighter is an entry-level position - a prospective firefighter who has gone through minimum training.

Gretchen Chipperini, the owner of the house on Library Street, said she had not heard of the arrest Wednesday, though she said she knew the cause of the fire was arson. She declined to comment further about the arrest.

No one answered the phone Wednesday night at the number listed for Celtruda's address.

According to The Day's records, Celtruda had been was arrested twice since September 2007. In May, he was charged with second-degree harassment, threatening and failure to submit to fingerprinting, and last September he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and two counts of reckless driving.

It was unclear Wednesday what the disposition of those cases were.

The early-morning fire on July 25 destroyed the house, located at 23 Library St., which was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived around 5 a.m. No injuries were reported, although one firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exhaustion.

Located in downtown Mystic's historic district, near the Mystic & Noank Library and Union Baptist Church, the 2-½-story home was the site of construction since the late 1980s. It was unoccupied and had been undergoing sporadic renovations.

In May 2000, Library Street residents presented a petition with more than 540 signatures to the Groton Town Council to demand that the town force Chipperini to finish renovating her home.

Town officials told residents that Chipperini had obtained all necessary permits for the work and said it was a civil matter. Her permits predated rules that limit homeowners to no more than five years for completing renovations in the historic district.

In July 2000, Eugene Cushman, a lawyer for Chipperini sent a letter to The Day claiming that Chipperini had been a target of vandalism and threats and that someone tried to blow up the house. He also claimed that someone had placed the severed head of a dog in Chipperini's yard, “presumably as a warning of what was to come.”

One Library Street neighbor, Sandy Deveau, said she was shocked at the arrest, though not totally surprised.

”We knew something catastrophic was about to happen. We just didn't know what or when,” Deveau said, adding that the home was “an open invitation for mischief.”

K.CROMPTON@THEDAY.COM
DAY STAFF WRITER AMY RENCZKOWSKI CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.