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McQuillan
to felonies
By Jan LaValley
Rappahannock News Staff Writer ; “I don’t care if it takes you the rest of your life you’re going to pay this (debt) off or put in an equal Amount of work to pay it off,” said Judge Shore Robinson to defendant Paul McQuillan last week in Rappahannock’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
McQuillan was being tried for arson, breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny and grand larceny in connection with the arson which occurred at Stuart Field in Amissville Sept. 7.
The judge, attorneys and law enforcement officers, involved in prosecuting the case, verbally expressed their disbelief as they listened to the account McQuillan gave of the incident.
He and another juvenile snuck out of McQuillan’s home about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 7 and went for a walk, he said. McQuillan said the other juvenile told him the buildings at the field were easy to break into and he had done it before.
They went to the field and kicked in the door of the concession building, he said. They set a fire in the floor so they could see, McQuillan said, although as Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke observed, the electricity was on and the lights worked.
Taking candy and food items, they placed them in a canvas bag. They then stomped out the fire and went on to the equipment building, he testified.
The procedure was repeated, McQuillan said, except the other juvenile pulled down clothes and gloves and threw them onto the fire at which time he told McQuillan that the fire would bum hotter that way. McQuillan said the other juvenile had been taking firefighter training and boasted of his knowledge concerning fires.
They also stomped out the second fire, he said, after taking pins and baseball caps from the building.
The fires, which were not out, ignited after they left the scene and destroyed the buildings and equipment belonging to the Rappahannock Athletic Association.
The two boys went back to McQuillan’s home with the stolen items.
Sunday morning the other boy went home but returned that afternoon with his aunt, Genia Haught of Amissville, to whom he had confessed. McQuillan said she told them not to worry, she would get rid of the items. He said she took almost all the items to the Rappahannock River and threw
See ARSON, Page A6
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