Second arsonist sentenced Bangor man involved in Extra Touch fire

BANGOR – The second of two men convicted of torching a downtown Bangor building a year ago was sentenced Friday to 17 years with all but six years suspended.

The sentence given to Scott Gagnon, 19, is one year more than his counterpart, Harold Hawkes, 19, received earlier this year after Hawkes pleaded guilty to setting the fire that destroyed the Extra Touch lingerie store and heavily damaged much of the rest of the six-story building.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts said he had asked Superior Court Justice Thomas D. Warren to impose a stiffer penalty because Gagnon had not accepted responsibility for the April 4, 2000, fire. In addition to the six years of prison, Gagnon will have to serve six years of probation.

Gagnon was convicted in late March of arson after his first trial in December ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a verdict.

Authorities said that Gagnon and Hawkes, both of Bangor, had been intoxicated on the night of the fire and had been hanging around the downtown area when they threw a metal pipe through a plate-glass window at the Extra Touch. A Molotov cocktail then was thrown inside, igniting the apparel business.

Roberts said that Friday’s sentencing lasted about 40 minutes and included comments by a manager and a tenant of the building owned by Coe Management Group. The fire caused about $750,000 damage to the building, located on the corner of State and Exchange streets. The building has since been renovated.