Multiple witnesses testified Tuesday in Jefferson County Court that they heard Carlos L. Rivera threaten to burn down the Victoria Building hours before the apartment complex at 201-205 Academy St. was destroyed by an alleged arson fire.
Testimony revealed the Dec. 8 fire started in apartment 11A, whose tenant, Joseph P. Puparro, testified he had kicked Mr. Rivera out of his residence several times, including as recently as five days before the blaze.
"I had told him to leave my house, because I did not want him there," Mr. Puparro said. "He said he was going to set the stairway on fire so that I could not leave my house, because that is the only way to leave the building."
Mr. Puparro said he had previously bought drugs from Mr. Rivera, whom he knew as Lido. He admitted his residence was his "party house" and said he had barred Mr. Rivera from there after a series of arguments.
"He told me he would not step foot in my house again and he told me I wouldn't step foot in it again," he said.
Witnesses said that late on Dec. 7, Mr. Rivera got into a scuffle with Gretchen L. Larson over a cellular phone Mr. Rivera allegedly had that belonged to Martie J. Recor. Mr. Puparro had asked Ms. Larson to retrieve the phone.
Mr. Rivera had earlier arrived at the Puparro apartment while Mr. Puparro was not there. Ms. Larson said she knew Mr. Rivera was not welcome in the residence and he was not let in. She said Mr. Rivera began shouting in the hallway that "he was going to pour gas on the walls and burn the place down." When she opened the door to check, Mr. Rivera forced his way into the apartment and the two had a calm conversation.
Ms. Larson said that when Ms. Recor arrived at the Puparro apartment, Ms. Larson took the phone from Mr. Rivera, at which time he allegedly punched her in the face, causing a black eye. A fight then ensued and Mr. Rivera left the apartment and a chair was placed against the door to keep it shut.
Ms. Larson said Mr. Rivera kicked down the door, causing the chair to fly across the room. He allegedly picked up a coffee table, threw it at Ms. Larson; she threw it back and he left. A short time later, he again forced his way into the apartment with his hand inside his clothing, telling the people in the apartment that he had a gun.
"He said he would kill us," Ms. Recor testified. She also said he said "he was going to burn the (expletive) place down."
Mr. Rivera then left the apartment, but the people inside were afraid to leave the residence because they did not know where he went. There was conflicting testimony about who contacted a man named Randy, but the man came to the apartment to escort the people out.
Hours later the 24-unit apartment building was ablaze, although there was no testimony that placed Mr. Rivera at the scene after he was kicked out of the Puparro apartment for the third time.
Watertown Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul Fitzgerald said firefighters found the top floor engulfed upon arrival and, after fighting the blaze for a period, realized it was a losing battle and began employing a "defensive" approach in which firefighters were pulled from the structure to extinguish the fire from the outside.
Jurors also heard from two firefighters, David E. Johnston and Keith A. Grant, about their rescue of two injured men from the fire escape at the rear of the building. One of the men, Christopher W. Cervantez, said he suffered burns to his back and shoulder as he was being pulled down the escape route.
Mr. Cervantez, who lived across the hall from Mr. Puparro, said he heard loud noise outside his apartment about 10:30 p.m. Dec. 7, preventing him from sleeping. He claimed he heard Mr. Rivera, whom he had met for about 10 minutes earlier in the day, "screaming for his hat." He claims he heard Mr. Rivera tell an unidentified man that he and his girlfriend should leave the building because "they wouldn't want to be here in a little while."
Testimony in the trial of Mr. Rivera, 30, Bronx, will continue this morning. He faces 14 charges, including arson, reckless endangerment and assault.