PORTLAND – A 16-year-old boy sentenced to federal prison for burning down an Arundel boathouse attended a closed-door hearing Thursday during which his advocates asked a judge to have him moved to a youth facility closer to home with access to rehabilitation programs.

A psychologist from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections told U.S. District Judge George Singal that Patrick Vorce would benefit from rehabilitation not available in a federal prison.

Vorce’s family wants him to serve the remainder of his 30-month sentence at the Long Creek Youth Center in South Portland instead of at the Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in western Pennsylvania.

Singal, who heard testimony during a daylong hearing, said he would issue his ruling after reviewing additional paperwork.

The Vorce case attracted attention because the fire destroyed a boat engine belonging to former President George Bush and property belonging to the Secret Service. Bush has a summer home nearby in Kennebunkport.

Vorce was 14 in July 2002 when he and a 19-year-old friend panicked during a robbery and set fire to Southern Maine Marine Services in Arundel.

Local authorities later referred the case to federal prosecutors. Vorce’s mother maintains that the case ended up in federal court because of the link to Bush, a claim that U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby denied.

Vorce is one of fewer than 250 juveniles in the federal prison system, most of whom are American Indians who committed crimes on federal lands.

After he was sentenced, Vorce’s family appealed both the sentence and his placement by the federal Bureau of Prisons at the Pennsylvania facility, which makes it hard for his family to visit regularly.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston sent the case back to U.S. District Court, ordering the sentencing judge to take a more active role in determining where Vorce should be incarcerated.