BANGOR, Maine — A Newport man entered three guilty pleas in court Thursday for burning down his mother’s Newport home in 2014 after she went to police saying he was being verbally abusive. As part of a plea deal, charges against him for killing her dogs were dropped.
Kenneth Goodrich, 45, was indicted in October on two counts each of arson and aggravated cruelty to animals and one count of criminal use of explosives in connection with an Aug. 8, 2014, fire that gutted his mother’s home at 146 Rutland Road in Newport.
Investigators discovered Goodrich also was responsible for an April 2009 arson. He pleaded guilty to two arson charges and one count of criminal use of explosives Thursday in court at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Goodrich went before Justice Ann Murray, who sentenced him to 10 years with all but three years suspended for the arson at his mother’s home and 90 days concurrent for the explosive charge, according to Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Marianne Lynch.
He also was sentenced to a three-year concurrent sentence for the 2009 fire. Upon his release from prison, he will be on probation for four years, Murray ordered.
He faced up to 30 years in prison for the Class A arson charge.
Sandra Goodrich, who was not home when the fire began, called 911 to report her son had set the fire and killed two of her dogs, Newport Police Chief Leonard Macdaid said at the time.
She hid in the nearby woods until firefighters and police arrived, Macdaid said.
Kenneth Goodrich was found walking a short distance from the house not long after, and he was taken into custody and brought to a medical facility for evaluation, the chief said. He was charged with arson in early September 2014.
According to a court affidavit filed by Sgt. Kenneth MacMaster of the state fire marshal’s office, Goodrich intentionally started the fire. He reportedly had a lighter in his pocket when police took him into custody.
The affidavit stated Sandra Goodrich had gone to the Newport police station the day of the fire, requesting they stand by because of previous problems with her son’s verbal abuse. Kenneth Goodrich had been living with his mother three years before the fire.
The small one-story house that burned also was the scene of an October 2009 shooting that left Sandra Goodrich’s husband, Perley Goodrich Sr., dead at the hands of her other son, Perley Goodrich Jr., who also savagely beat Sandra Goodrich.
Perley Goodrich Jr., who had a history of mental illness, was arrested after an intense five-day manhunt. He was convicted of manslaughter in May 2011 and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
BDN reporter Dawn Gagnon contributed to this story.