Arrest made in Lebanon arson fire

Tommy Ellis ... Right, the house at 147 Champion St. (Lebanon Voice file photo)

A man with ties to Milton has been arrested in the June arson fire of a Lebanon home identified as a marijuana growing factory by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Tommy Ellis of Epping, N.H., was arrested on Saturday by Epping Police on a fugitive from justice warrant in connection with the fire at 147 Champion St. at the bottom of Prospect Hill.

The house had been the site of an elaborate pot-growing facility with special grow lights and generators to ensure lighting and heat was maintained in the event of a power interruption.

Ellis is being held at Rockingham County jail pending his arraignment on the fugitive from justice charge on Tuesday. If he waives extradition to Maine he’ll be transported to Maine to face the arson charges.

Ellis, who is in his late 20s, lived in Milton for a while and is said to have been a transient in the past, with no specified home address.

State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator Daniel Young said today that Ellis and the person who rented the house knew each other, but wouldn’t speculate on a motive.

Arson in the state of Maine is a Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

The early morning blaze on June 22 appeared to have originated in the rear of the house, which was not the area of the pot-growing operation, Young said earlier.

More than 30 firefighters from several surrounding communities tried to save the house after a neighbor called in the fire around 2:30 a.m.

The former graffiti house, strewn for decades with the political rhetoric of the late Clarence "Clabby" Tanner of Lebanon who formerly lived there, was sold to the new owners a couple of years ago.

The former clapboard house had been sided in recent years and appeared to have been kept tidy. 

Lebanon officials are working with state officials and the home’s owner in an attempt to have what’s left of the house razed as it has become an eyesore and a safety hazard.