DRACUT — Chief Peter Bartlett would like to announce that a Dracut woman has been arraigned in Lowell District Court after an investigation determined she allegedly set fire to two Dracut Police cruisers parked behind the police station last week.
ALICIA A. BURLEY, AGE 43 is charged with two counts of Burning a Motor Vehicle (Felony) and one count of Trespassing. A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf before Judge Stacey Fortes.
BURLEY was released on personal recognizance and ordered to possess no dangerous weapons and stay away from the Dracut Police Department unless she has police business. She was also ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and any recommended treatment at a local medical facility by Judge Fortes.
She is due back in court on Nov. 10 for a pre-trial hearing.
At approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 15, Dracut Police officers were responding to multiple emergency calls simultaneously, when a shift supervisor received a call about a fire in the back parking lot of the police station. Officers located one marked cruiser that was fully engulfed in flames. The fire was quickly extinguished by the Dracut Fire Department. The cruiser was totaled and a marked cruiser parked next to it had sustained such significant heat damage that it was also totaled.
A woman, later identified as BURLEY, was located by officers in the vestibule of the station after the fire had been put out and was subsequently transported by ambulance to a local hospitalto undergo an evaluation. She was found carrying a can containing gasoline as well as a Bic lighter and a partially used book of matches.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
The investigation was conducted by the Dracut Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office with the assistance of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. Any additional questions should be directed to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
These are allegations. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.
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