Maine Woman Guilty of Helping Mom in Arson

January 12, 2012

A 38-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to helping her mother burn down several buildings in a small western Maine town owned by a man her mom had a falling out with.

Lisa Thurston, of Gilead, pleaded guilty to arson Tuesday in Oxford County Superior Court.

The Sun Journal of Lewiston reported that Thurston and her 64-year-old mother, Joann Farris, drove to some land in Albany Township, where Thurston poured kerosene on two log cabins, a maintenance building and two storage buildings and set them on fire while her mother waited in a car.

Farris pleaded no contest to charges last month and was given a three-year suspended sentence and put on probation for four years. She’s been ordered to pay restitution of up to $70,000.