Teen arsonist likely to serve sentence in Maine

PORTLAND – A Kennebunk teenager who set an Arundel boat yard fire that destroyed an engine belonging to former President George Bush will apparently get to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Maine.

A pending agreement involving the Maine Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons would enable Patrick Vorce, 16, to stay at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

The state has already signed off on the agreement, which allows for long-term detention of federal juvenile inmates in Maine and says federal approval should be forthcoming.

“We’ve signed it and we’ve sent it back to the [Bureau of Prisons] for their signature,” said Denise Lord, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. The agreement would be effective July 1.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons could not be reached immediately for comment.

Vorce’s mother, Denise Collier, said her family is excited at the prospect of their son remaining at Long Creek, where he was transferred two months ago from a juvenile facility in Pennsylvania. Collier and his lawyer said that prison was dangerous, lacked a rehabilitation program and was too far from his family.

Vorce and a 19-year-old friend were convicted of setting fire to Southern Maine Marine Services in Arundel in July 2002.