Two 18-year-olds have been accused of setting fire to seven buildings, including three at the former Elan School, over the past several months.
James Akers of Portland and Jacob Kaiser of Biddeford are suspected in a string of arson fires in Poland and Yarmouth between November 2024 and this past March, according to Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Two of those fires were at a vacant building at the Elan School campus in Poland and a construction site in Yarmouth on Nov. 17, 2024.
That same site in Yarmouth was struck again on Jan. 2, burning a vacant home under construction.
Two more fires broke out on March 1, again at the Elan campus and at a vacant home on Madeleine Point Road in Yarmouth.
Those were followed by another fire at a vacant Elan School building on March 7, and then a U.S. Forest Service sign was burned at Princes Point Road and Lafayette Street in Yarmouth on March 19.
Akers was arrested on March 20 for allegedly burning the Forest Service sign. He was taken to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland and later released on bail.
Kaiser was arrested Tuesday for allegedly starting the Madeleine Point Road fire that destroyed a home. He was taken to the Cumberland County Jail and later released on bail.
While Akers and Kaiser have each been charged in one fire, Moss said Thursday that evidence suggests they are connected to other fires and criminal activity in the area during this time.
Two 17-year-olds also are suspected for being involved in the fires, but have not yet been charged, according to Moss.
Psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Davidson and businessman Joseph Ricci opened the Elan School in 1970. Staff there used humiliation as a therapeutic tool to treat children with emotional, behavioral and substance use problems.
Accusations of physical and emotional abuse dogged the school.
Despite numerous investigations, the school didn’t close until 2011 because of declining enrollment and financial trouble.
The investigation is ongoing.
