Lebanon
The alleged motive for last month’s blaze, which gutted the historic church in downtown Lebanon, was disclosed in a probable cause hearing for Anthony K. Boisvert, who also faces charges in connection with the stabbings of two people four days after the Dec. 28 church fire as well as two other fires in the city.
Lebanon District Court Judge Henrietta Luneau on Tuesday ruled there is probable cause to proceed with Boisvert’s case. Boisvert has been charged with seven felonies, including three counts of arson, two counts of witness tampering and two counts of first-degree assault.
Meanwhile, documents obtained from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections indicate Boisvert had been out of prison for 21 days before he allegedly set fire to the church. He had been serving a sentence in the New Hampshire State Prison for burglary.
Boisvert is being held at the Grafton County jail on $500,000 cash bail.
Luneau on Tuesday also found probable cause to proceed with a case against Boisvert’s twin sister, Andrea Gilbert, on a charge of falsifying physical evidence. Gilbert is accused of erasing information on her cellphone during the investigation into her brother’s alleged acts.
She had her bail increased on Tuesday to $5,000 cash and $15,000 personal recognizance.
Both Boisvert and Gilbert appeared in person for their probable cause hearings.
Boisvert remained calm throughout Tuesday’s hearing, in stark contrast to his demeanor during last week’s arraignment, when he shouted and made death threats against several relatives. He didn’t have an attorney assigned to him at that hearing; his public defender, Adam Hescock, on Tuesday declined to comment on why that was.
Boisvert spoke only once on Tuesday, responding to Luneau’s initial greeting.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Boisvert,” Luneau said when he walked into the court room in shackles.
“Good afternoon,” he replied.
Boisvert sat nearly motionless at the defense table for the remainder of the roughly hourlong hearing.
After a brief conference with the judge, Lebanon police prosecutor Ben LeDuc put Lebanon police Lt. Matthew Isham on the witness stand.
Isham, who wrote the affidavit in both Boisvert’s and Gilbert’s cases, gave a chronological account of Boisvert’s alleged acts beginning with a gathering at The Boulders Condominiums on Dec. 28 and ending with his Jan. 1 arrest outside his sister’s Tannery Lane apartment, where police say Boisvert had been residing since his release from prison.
Isham testified that Boisvert made several statements outside of his sister’s apartment and in the police cruiser on his way to the station that night.
In the cruiser, Boisvert asked if he had killed anybody, apparently alluding to 52-year-old Wade Bennett and 66-year-old Diane Faughnan — the two people he is accused of having stabbed on Jan. 1, shortly before his arrest, Isham testified.
He allegedly stabbed them because Bennett informed police Boisvert had told him he was going to do something “big” in Lebanon on the same night that the church burned, Isham said.
Isham testified that Boisvert stabbed Bennett about 25 times in the head, neck, chest, arms and sides with a serrated steak knife; Faughnan was stabbed about six times in the head and neck. They spent a week in the hospital.
Boisvert also allegedly told police in the cruiser that he was “lucky” he didn’t get inside his sister’s apartment that night because he would have killed people inside. He then laughed and said “I made it to my destination,” Isham testified.
After arriving at the police station and being told that he had the right to remain silent or have a lawyer present, Boisvert allegedly told police he set fire to the church on Dec. 28, and that he started a fire at an apartment building on Mascoma Street and broke into the Carter Community Building Association and the Upper Valley Senior Center that same night. He also allegedly told police he started a January 2016 fire on Hanover Street Extension, Isham said.
Boisvert told police he started the fire at 68 Mascoma St. because “he knew there were kids that lived there,” and said he started the church fire because he was “mad at God for making him a pedophile,” Isham testified.
Hescock, Boisvert’s public defender, asked Isham a few questions during Tuesday’s hearing, including when Boisvert was notified of his right to remain silent or have a lawyer present.
He also asked Isham to clarify who the “several sources” were that police identified in the affidavit as linking Boisvert to the alleged crimes.
Isham said police received one or two anonymous emails and an anonymous phone call. He said they also talked to Bennett and another man who was at Bennett’s residence on the night of the church fire.
Boisvert’s case will be presented to a Grafton County grand jury, which will decide whether to indict him on the charges he now faces or other ones.
Boisvert also faces child pornography charges in an unrelated case in Vermont; he is scheduled to appear on those charges later this month.
Boisvert was released from prison in New Hampshire three weeks before the Lebanon church fire, said Jeffrey Lyons, a New Hampshire Department of Corrections spokesman.
Court records indicate Boisvert was sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison in January 2013 for three counts of felony burglary that he committed the previous year.
He was eligible for parole on July 1, 2015, and was paroled about three weeks later, Lyons said. After release, Boisvert violated his conditions and was returned to prison on Sept. 19, 2016, Lyons said. The spokesman noted he couldn’t comment on what Boisvert did to violate his conditions of release.
Boisvert remained incarcerated until his release last month.
Boisvert has several theft convictions and at least two other offenses on his criminal record for which he received suspended sentences or fines, Lyons said.
Boisvert had been working at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Hanover Street in Lebanon, prosecutors said.
According to police, Boisvert was staying at the Rivermere Housing Complex on Tannery Lane after being released from prison in December.
Boisvert’s twin sister, Gilbert, rented an apartment at Rivermere, Twin Pines Housing Trust Director Andrew Winter said.
In a telephone interview this week, Winter said he had no evidence that Boisvert had been staying at Rivermere.
Isham on Tuesday testified that Boisvert was supposed to be residing there with his sister, and that is why police went to Tannery Lane to look for Boisvert after the stabbings.
Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello said Boisvert gave the probation and parole department the Tannery Lane address when he was released from prison.
Based on Boisvert’s criminal history, “it appears quite unlikely” that he would have qualified to stay at the housing complex, per its policy, Winter said.
Gilbert shouldn’t have let Boisvert stay longer than seven days without asking to add him to the lease, either, Winter said.
The housing trust had moved to evict Gilbert for nonpayment of rent in early December and received a judge’s approval to evict her on Dec. 21. The housing trust ultimately decided to wait until after the holidays because it knew she had young children, Winter said.
Because Gilbert currently is incarcerated, Winter said, the housing trust is now trying to figure out its next step.
Asked whether any other relatives live at Rivermere, Winter said he couldn’t reveal that information because of privacy concerns.
“Obviously the issue of safety is paramount to our residents and the larger community,” Winter said.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.