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Bellavance Indicted in Fire at Grand View Topless Coffee Shop

July 05, 2010 - AUGUSTA -- The man accused of burning down a topless coffee shop in Vassalboro has been indicted on two counts of arson.

Raymond Bellavance Jr., 49, faces two counts of arson -- one on destruction of property; the second, endangering a life -- alleging he set a June 2009 fire that destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop on Route 3.

A Kennebec County grand jury returned the indictments on Thursday.

An indictment is not a determination of guilt but is an indication that sufficient evidence is present to proceed with formal charges and a trial.

Bellavance, who was arrested in May after a nearly yearlong investigation, continues to be held at the Kennebec County jail.

Donald Crabtree, who owns the coffee shop, and six others, including two babies, were sleeping in a room connected to the coffee shop at the time of the fire. All escaped when passers-by noticed the fire and woke them up.

A 19-page affidavit filed in May in Kennebec County Superior Court by Kenneth MacMaster of the State Fire Marshal's Office claims Bellavance used gasoline to start the June 2009 fire because he was angry his girlfriend, Krista MacIntyre, was working for and allegedly in a sexual relationship with Crabtree.

MacMaster carefully detailed in the affidavit an 11-month investigation that included statements from nearly two dozen witnesses, almost all of whom say they heard Bellavance talk about burning down the coffee shop.

"The affidavit establishes clearly that Raymond Bellavance was clearly agitated ... and became more agitated when he learned (his girlfriend) was having a sexual relationship with the owner of the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop," MacMaster wrote. "The affidavit establishes that, prior to the fire, Raymond Bellavance had made statements that he was going to burn the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop and that, after the fire, Raymond Bellavance made statements that he had, in fact, burned the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop."

The witnesses, almost all of whom have criminal records, paint a picture of Bellavance as a man anxious to maintain control over the woman with whom he was involved.

Bellavance showed up at the coffee shop in March 2009 and made a scene in an attempt to get MacIntyre fired, MacMaster said. A corporal with Kennebec County Sheriff's Department wrote in a report detailing the incident that Bellavance was angry about illegal activity he alleged MacIntyre and Crabtree were conducting at the coffee shop.

Tara Michaud-Bellavance, Raymond Bellavance's estranged wife, said her husband is "controlling, possessive and abusive with women that he is in a relationship with."

Michaud-Bellavance recalled asking MacIntyre if she still worked at the coffee shop.

"According to Tara, MacIntyre said she was, and then Bellavance interjected a statement, 'Until I f...... burn it down,'" MacMaster said. "When asked, Tara believed that Bellavance was serious about the statement."

by Craig Crosby, Morning Sentinel, July 2, 2010

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