Ghost hunting arsonist gets 30 months for Preston fire

Norwich Bulletin: Ghost hunting arsonist gets 30 months for Preston fire

New London, Conn. — A Waterford man was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of probation Thursday for his involvement in an Aug. 11, 2007, fire set while he was apparently ghost hunting at the administration building at the former Norwich Hospital in Preston.

Steven A. Lamotte, 24, had pleaded guilty to third-degree arson, though he claims it was admitted serial arsonist Kevin Walker who lit the fire. Lamotte and Walker are among the 10 people charged in connection with a string of Norwich-area fires.

During an investigation into the Preston fire, it was Walker who told investigators that Lamotte set the fire, police reports show. Walker said he and Lamotte were on the second floor of the building when Lamotte rolled up some paper and doused it with gasoline, setting it ablaze with a lighter he borrowed from Walker, according to police reports. Another arson suspect, Keith Mutch, 36, of Norwich, recalls that Walker and Lamotte were ghost hunting at the time.

Several months after the fire, an ex-girlfriend told police that their interest in the paranormal brought them back to the site of the fire, where “Kevin Walker was very excited and actually started running around the other rooms saying how they could light other rooms on fire,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit in the case.

Walker is now serving a 15-year prison sentence.

Judge Patrick J. Clifford, during sentencing in New London Superior Court, acknowledged Lamotte’s dysfunctional upbringing and his apparent fascination with the occult. He knocked six months off the state’s recommended sentence, but cited six previous arrests in his decision.

Defense Attorney Linda Sullivan said Lamotte had been treated for depression since he was 12 and bounced around a series of foster homes. He was out of prison and on probation when state police served him with the arson warrant.

“He seems like a well-behaved, sincere young man,” Sullivan said. “He was involved with this Kevin Walker person. He knows he was hanging around with the wrong people.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney David Smith.