NORTHAMPTON — A city man is being held without right to bail on charges that he set two fires over the weekend that caused more than $45,000 in damage.
Gregory McMaster, 39, of 18 Summer St., pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Northampton District Court to charges of burning personal property, burning a building and assault and battery on a police officer.
McMaster was arrested early Monday morning after allegedly setting fire to several 6-foot stacks of plastic containers on pallets covered with a tarp behind CVS pharmacy on King Street, and then setting fire to a tool shed at Congregation B’nai Israel’s Abundance Farm on Prospect Street. While he was being taken to the police station he spat on an officer, police said, resulting in the assault and battery charge.
In court, Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Robert Opsitnick told the judge that the evidence of the crime was “circumstantial,” as no one saw McMaster light the fire on Prospect Street, but he was very close to the location when police spoke with him. Surveillance footage from the Pride gas station shows him in the area around the time of the pharmacy fire, Opsitnick said in court.
Northampton Police received a call from a woman requesting a well-being check on McMaster Sunday night over a concern that he was intoxicated, according to court documents. The woman told police McMaster spent time behind the CVS pharmacy. After speaking with the woman at her residence in Hampshire Heights, Police Sgt. Greg Korepta went to check behind the King Street pharmacy where he found “an ongoing fire,” according to a report written by Northampton Detective Michael Briggs.
Korepta put the fire out using a dry chemical extinguisher from his cruiser, according to court documents. Police said the fire caused about $740 in property damage.
A short time later, Patrol Officer Kyle Grumoli found McMaster “stumbling down the south edge of the bike path” heading toward King Street in the area of the Northampton Water Department building, Grumoli wrote in his report. The city’s Water Department is next to the synagogue’s garden.
McMaster allegedly gave Grumoli a fake name when the officer attempted to speak with him on the bike path and attempted to keep walking past the officer’s cruiser, Grumoli wrote. The officer physically stopped McMaster from leaving and placed him in handcuffs.
When Briggs arrived at the bike path, he attempted to speak with McMaster but was unable to do so because of McMaster’s level of intoxication, Briggs wrote. According to the detective’s report, McMaster had mud and a small amount of hay on the bottom of his shoes. Police also found a lighter in his pocket.
It was at that time that police received a report of a barn on fire nearby.
“We looked in the direction of the reported fire and could see a large active fire appearing to fully engulf a structure,” Briggs wrote in his report.
The garden shed was destroyed by the fire. A 1920s shed used by the Water Department to store parts and equipment was also damaged by the blaze. Between the two structures, damage was estimated at $45,000, according to Northampton Assistant Fire Chief Jon Davine.
McMaster was stopped by police approximately 453 feet away from the synagogue’s property line, according to court documents.
Later, at the police station, McMaster told police he had been drinking heavily for multiple days and was not at the Pride station or CVS pharmacy. The woman who called police to check on McMaster reported him being at both places, according to court documents. Still images taken from security cameras at the gas station appear to place McMaster at the station, according to court documents.
McMaster told police he did not remember his travel path that evening because he blacked out, Briggs wrote. McMaster also denied setting the fires.
McMaster was convicted of burning personal property in June 2016 in Hampden Superior Court. Northampton Police also considered him a suspect in three fires in August 2016 but no criminal charges were filed in those incidents, according to court documents.
McMaster is being represented by public defender Korrina Burnham. A dangerousness hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.