Arson Charges Consolidated in Shakespeare Theater Fire

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Prosecutors have consolidated arson charges against three teens charged in a string of fires, including one that destroyed the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

Judge Joan Alexander said Friday that she hopes there will be a plea offer to consider when 18-year-olds Christopher Sakowicz and Vincent Keller and 17-year-old Logan Caraballo, of Stratford, return to Bridgeport Superior Court on Feb. 13. All the cases have been consolidated so they can be prosecuted in the Bridgeport court.

The teens are charged with setting six fires in Stratford, Southbury, West Haven and Milford between January and March of last year, beginning with the theater fire on Jan. 13.

Police said the teens admitted on SnapChat that they set that fire and posted an incriminating video that was circulated around Bunnell High School where both Sakowicz and Keller were seniors at the time.

Police said Sakowicz told them the teens broke into the theater basement through an unlocked rear door and that he had lit the fire using gasoline he had brought with him.

Police said the teens later rode their bikes back to the area to watch the theater burn.

The theater, built in 1955, was modeled after London's Globe Theatre, which famously burned in 1613.

Actors such as Katharine Hepburn, Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones graced its stage before it closed in 2005.

There had been interest in renovating the theater in recent years, but no consensus could be reached on a plan, said Republican Mayor Laura Hoydick. The building was sealed in 2017.

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