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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986 05 01 Recorded Interview of Officer Victor Regani RECORDED INTERVIEW OFFICER VICTOR W. REGAN 4 SEBASTIAN POLICE DEPARTMENT ., May 1, 1986 MASA Contract No. 04860263 J.W. Today is May the 1st, 1986. This is James M. Wark, I'm supervisor of investigations with M. A. Stringer & Associates in Tampa, Florida. I'm presently at 841 Fellsnere Road, Sebastian, Florida. Uh, this is the location of the Sebastian Sun Treasure Coast Publishing Company, doing business as the. Sebastian Sun. The time is 3:26 p.m. I'm presently speaking with Officer Victor W. Regan of the Sebastian Police Department. Vic, for the record, would you state your full name sir? V.R. Victor W. Regan. J.W. Okay sir, and, uh, are you aware there's a recording being made of our conversation? V.R. I am. J.W. And is it being done with your permission? V.R. It sure is. J.W. Okay. Vic, as I previously informed you, the company I work for has been retained by Safeco Insurance Company to investigate the fire which occurred at this location on April the 27th, 1986. Sir, are you aware that's the subject of our conversation? V.R. Yes I am. J.W. And are you willing to answer my questions? V.R. Yes I am. J.W. Okay. Uh, Victor, how long have you been a police officer? V.R. Approximately 6, between 6 and 7 years. J.W. Okay sir. And how long have you been with, uh, the Sebastian Police Department? (1) Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. Almost a year full time and two years auxil- iary. J.W. Okay. So, you've been a paid officer for approximately a year? V.R. Yes. J.W. Uhl what'd you do before you were a police officer, Vic? . V.R. Uhl straight out of high school I became a police officer and then I had a little bit of time in between there where I worked for my father's pool company. J.W. Oh, by, by the way, how old are you sir? V.R. I'm 28 years old. J.W. Okay, and your date of birth? V.R. Uhl 11-20-57. - J.W. Okay. Okay, Vic, uh, would you relate to me the, uh, circumstances under which you discovered the fire here at the, uh, Sebastian Sun Publishing Company? V.R. Yeah, I was on routine patrol and I was in- vestigating another complaint, and we got a call about a fire at the Arnold Bryant build- ing on County Road 512. I responded, I was on the way to responding to the scene, when the call came back in from central dispatch - to advise us that it was not the Arnold Bryant - ; building, it was the Sebastian Sun building. _'-."';•= At that point, I notified my fiancee, who " works here, to call the owners of the building, and that's, you know, while I was en route to the scene. I arrived at 7:30 a.m., the call came out at 7:27 a.m. ,J.W. Okay V.R. And, upon my arrival, I observed smoke coming through the top rafters of the building, out through the soffit and whatnot. And, I came immediately to the front door area, which is on the north side of the building, and I ob- (2) //D Officer V. W. Regan NASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. (Continuing) served two windows that were open, and I checked, in order not to con- taminate those areas, I checked both doors in the front to see if they were locked, they were locked, and then we went to the rear of the building to see if the rear door, you know, was locked, I came back to the front of the building, got the fire ex- tinguisher out of my car, went in through the easternmost front window. Pushed it up and went in, where I observed flames in the hall- way, at the reception office. J.W. Was there a lot of smoke in there, in the reception area? V.R. It wasn't, you could see, it wasn't really heavily smoked. J.W. But there was smoke in there? V.R. Yes there was. J.W. Okay. All right, when you pulled up, did you observe any smoke coming out of the windows? V.R. Barely, it was more noticable from the top ceiling as opposed to the window area. J.W. Okay. And we're talking about, uh, 7:30 a.m.? V.R. 7:30 a.m. J.W. Okay sir. Now, after you, uh, you said you tried the doors and the doors were secure? V.R. Right. J.W. Okay. And, uh, now, just to, uh, acquaint me with .which way, uh, we're standing here, the front of the Sebastian Sun faces what direction? V.R. North. J.W. Okay. Now these, uh, the buildings, the windows that you're talking about are on the northwest side of the building, would that be right? Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. One is on the northwest end of the building and the other one would be on the northeast end of the building. J.W. Okay. And which, which window did you go in through, sir? V.R. The northeast window. J.W. Okay. V.R. Uh, let me mention now, because I don't know if you forgot.or whatever, but, at between 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., I was on routine patrol and I came by and I noticed that the front porch light was off, and it's usually on. J.W. Okay. V.R. And I thought it was suspicious, because I know that when they do leave at night, they leave the light on. J.W. Okay. V.R. I was thinking about calling somebody and have 'em come out and check the building, and then I decided not to, 'cause it was al- most daylight, so I didn't do it. J.W. All right. V.R. Okay, At that time, I spot -lighted the whole perimeter of the building with my pa- trol car and the windows were down, whether they were secure or not, I don't know, but they were down. J.W. Now this is at 5:30 in the morning? V.R. Right, between 5:00 and 5:30 is the best I could recall. J.W. Uh, and what was the reason you had came here at that time? V.R. Because the front porch light was off and it was usually on. (4) ��a Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 J.L9. Oh you, you observed that from the road driving .... V.R. From the road, I was on a routine patrol just passin' by. J.W. Okay. All right and, uh, so, at 5:30 you were here and the windows were down to the best of your knowledge? V.R. Right. J.W. Okay. Now, uh, when you arrived here at 7:30, how far open were the windows? V.R. Approximately 6" close up. J.W. Okay. V.R. Two of the three windows. J.W. All right, now, the one that was on the northeast side of the building, how, how much did you open that to get in there? V.R. I believe I pushed it as far as I could, uh,, I couldn't, you know, not certain. J.W. Okay. V.R. Enough for me to get in and out. J.W. Okay. And when you initially entered the building, where did you see fire? V.R. In the center hallway, right in the recep- tion office, which was, and the flames were no higher than 4, 4 to 51. J.W. Okay. And you had a, you told me a 2-pound dry chemical extinguisher? V.R. Yes I did, and I, I used part of it and it was too hot for me to stay in there, I came back out and then I went back in again and used the rest of it. J.W. All right. Now, uh, did you see any fire on the floor? c (5) Officer'V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. No I didn't. J.W. Did you see any fire in the ceiling? V.R. No I didn't. J.W. The only fire you saw was in that center hallway or going into the back room, is that right? V.R. That's correct. J.W. Okay. Now, after you come back out, uh, how long did you, did you stay out before you went back in? V.R. Wasn't a minute. J.W. Okay. Did you go back in through the window? V.R. Yes I did. J.W. Okay. Why didn't you go through the door, I mean, just as a matter of information? V.R. Well, I, I just didn't, I .... J.W. Yeah. V.R. .... I, (inaudible) and I was tryin' not to contaminate it more than I already had, and I just kept goin' in and out. J.W. Okay. V.R. Previous experience into a crime scene, if it's possibly a crime scene, you just don't contaminate it. J.W. Sure. All right, uh, okay, so, you went back into the window, uh, now, shortly there- after, uh, the chief of police arrived, is that correct? V.R. That's correct. J.W. Okay, now, how long after you got here would it have been that the chief arrived? (6) 11/ FA Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. Three minutes, not even. 'Cause I was in and out and in, and comin' out the second time when I noticed that he was here. There was another officer on the scene that was just standin' by. J.W. Okay and, uh, what is the chief's name? V.R. Chief Gerald Nappi. J.W. Would you spell that? .4 V.R. N-a-p-p-i. J.W. Okay. And who was the other officer that were here, sir? V.R. James Johnson. J.W. James Johnson? V.R. Yes sir. J.W. Okay. Now did chief enter the building while you were in there? V.R. He was yellin' at me through the window or talkin' to me through the window and then he, when I came out, he was opening the door. Okay, uh, and at that point, I searched the exterior of the building for a garden hose, 'cause we didn't have any more fire extin- guishers and there weren't any, so I went next door and got a garden hose and came back, and it wouldn't reach inside the build- ing, so all we could do was wait for the fire department. J.W. So, you're talking about approximately 7:33 or 7:34 the chief got here? V.R. It was between 7:30, 7:33. J.11. Okay. V.R. Just a matter of zero to three minutes, no more. J.W. Okay, uh, did he have a key to the door, how'd he open the door? (7) I Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. No sir he didn't, he used a knife and opened it that way. J.W. Okay. Now, uh, you earlier mentioned, uh, your fiancee works here, what's her name, sir? V.R. Shirley Ballou. J•W. Shirley Ballou? V.R. B-a-1-1-o-u. J.W. Okay. And, uh, what's Miss Ballou's address, sir? V.R. 525 Saunders Street, Sebastian. J.W. Okay, I neglected to get your address also. V•R• Same address. J.W. Same address? V.R. Yes sir. J.W. Okay, Uh, how long has she worked here, sir? V.R. I believe it was earl, since early January. J.W. And, uh, what's her job here? V.R. Office manager and bookkeeper. J.W. Okay. All right, so, after the fire depart- ment got here, you stood by outside, you, chief, and this other officer? V.R. Yes sir. J.W. You stood by outside, uh, did you, uh, did you re-enter the building after the fire de- partment got here? V.R. Yes I did. The chief requested me to call our lieutenant, who is, has been to arson in- vestigation school, and he came over imme- diately, I don't know what the time delay was, but, then, when the fire department gave the approval that it was safe to go in, that's (8) 117 Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. (Continuing) when we, chief and Lieutenant Puscher and myself went in. J.W. Lieutenant who? V.R. Puscher, P-u-s-c-h-e-r. J.W. And what's the Lieutenant's first name? V.R. Dave. J.W. Dave Puscher, okay. Okay, when you went in, uh, what did you observe? V.R. Well, we walked around at a point of origin of what we had already knew, where the fire was, you know, where we had observed it, and then we were walked through the back room, we observed a, a one -gallon, plastic contain- er, the milk jug type container, layin' on its side, it had a brownish liquid substance in it, this, uh, and in that room, when we entered, we did smell fumes that appeared to be of a gasoline nature. J.W. Okay,,did you smell that brown liquid in the jug? V.R. Sure did. J.W. What'd it smell like? V.R. Smelled like gasoline. J.W. Okay. And what happened to that jug of gas- oline? V.R. The jug, it was photographed there, left there to photograph, and our investigator got here, he photographed it and then he took it into evidence. J.W. And who would that be, sir? V.R. Detective Disomma, D-i-s-o-m-m-a. J.W. Okay, and what's his first name? V.R.. Uh, Douglas. (9) Ilk r. Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 0486026E J.W. Douglas Disomma? that, uh, jug that and you have it in V.R. Yes sir. okay. So, you all took contained, uh, gasoline your evidence? J.W. Okay. All right, uh, how long was it be- fore a representative of the Sebastian Sun arrived here? V.R. The Sebastian, Mrs. Pepper arrived shortly after the chief of police, uh, she only lives two blocks from here, approximately two blocks from here, uh, she was notified immediately by the chief or my fiancee, I don't know which one, and she was here before the fire department was here. J.W. Okay, by the way, did the dispatcher notify chief of the fire or .... V.R. Uh, it's a funny situation, the chief also lives with me, okay, and I notified dis- patcher to notify my fiancee to call Mrs. Pepper, because there have been threats on the building before, all right, and this, my main concern was that, if it was secure, we needed somebody to get in if the fire de- partment wasn't here, we needed a key to get in, that's why I had her call Mrs. Pepper. Okay. The chief picked up the phone the same time my fiancee did, the message was conveyed simultaneously. J.W. Chief rents a, I mean .... V.R. He boards with me. J.W. Okay. All right, uh, so, that's how he found out about this so quickly, the fire. V.R. Yes sir. J.W. -Z okay. All right, after, uh, after you had removed, uh, the jug of gasoline was removed and Mrs. Pepper, what, what's her first name? V.R. Joan Pepper. J.W. After she arrived here, uh, did you conduct a search of the building? (10) .^ officer V. W. Regan MASH Contract No. 04860268 V.R. After the fire was extinguished or .... J.W. After the fire was out. V.R. Yes sir we did. J.47. Okay, at the time you conducted the search of the building, did you find anything? V.R. Just, uh, the patterns on the carpet that we had discussed with you, that appeared to be burn patterns and some papers right there where the burn patterns were at. J.W. Okay. Now you, uh, you did, uh, you found a, a jug of gas in the back room? V.R. Right. J.W. Okay. Did you find gas anywheres else in the, uh, building at that time? V.R. We smelled it, but we didn't find any, no, at that time, we didn't find anything. J.W. Where did you smell it? V.R. In, from where the point of the jug was all the way through the reception office, the hallway where the fire was through the recep- tion office. J.W. Okay, did you check, uh, the other offices in this building at that time? V.R. No sir, uh, we, we checked 'em for anything that might have been disturbed, uh .... J.W. Okay. V.R. .... the only thing I could tell you at this point is that, when the building was safe to go in, the fire department had already hung a fan in the office on the westernmost side, which would have probably deterred us from smelling the gas fumes in that office. J.W. All right now, uh, at some point in time, uh, Law Enforcement Investigator Charles Hill of the State Fire Marshal's Office was at the look Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 J.W. (Continuing) fire, is that right? V.R. Yes sir. J.W. And, and what time of day would that have been? V.R. I noti, I don't have the exact time, it was later on in the morning that I notified him personally. I don't have my reports with me. J.W. Okay. V.R. I, I went to the station and called him in Orlando and (inaudible - interference on tape) call me back, and, uh, he responded to the scene, it was a couple hours later before he got here. J.W. Okay. V.R. Also (inaudible) from the sheriff's depart- ment and the State Attorney's office was no- tified, he responded. J.W. Reese Parrish? V.R. Parrish. J.W. Okay. Now, after, uh, uh (inaudible), the time is, uh (inaudible). Tape Cut Off. This is James Wark, the time is approximately 3:41, today is May the 1st, 1986, we're back on the tape. Uh, Officer Regan, while this tape was shut off, did I ask you any questions concerning the matter under investigation? V.R. No sir. J.W. Okay, do you realize that we are back on tape? V.R. Yes I do. J.W. And is this recording being made with your permission? (12) Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. Okay, there were some papers on her desk in the westernmost office that had been saturated with some type of liquid substance. And there was also, uh, they started to move something else, I called an, an on -duty po- lice officer to witness it, that officer was Patrolman Catelone. J.W. What's Catelone's first name? V.R. Andy Catelone. J.W. Okay. V.R. Okay. And then, a few minutes after he res- ponded to the scene and witnessed it, the chief -of police arrived again, Chief Nappi. Uh, we started to move some other articles around and all of a sudden I smelled a strong odor of gasoline again, and I said, wait a minute, what'd you move. And they went over to another desk in the same office, and it was some articles off the top of a computer. And it was a disk box on top of the computer, and there was a puddle of the substance layin' there. And i smelled it, and it appeared to be gasoline type substance. J.W. okay. V.R. Uh, Chief Nappi took a swab and put it, we put it in a glass jar and sealed the glass jar the best we could with, uh, fingerprint tape. Uh, then, also, I located, I said, wait a minute, let's just start checkin' around, so I checked another computer over by Joan Pepper's desk and there appeared to be a box of papers and a newspaper, and a legal pad, that were completely saturated with a liquid fuel, fluid that smelled like gasoline. J.W. All right. V.R. And all that stuff was taken into evidence by Chief Nappi and Patrolman Catelone, and they turned it over to Detective Disomma. J.W. Okay. Uh, just to recap, when you got here, uh, all doors were secure, is that right? (14) la/ W Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 V.R. That's correct. J.W. All right. The two windows in the front of the building were, or two of the three win- dows on the north side of the building were open? V.R. Yes they were, approximately 6". J.W. Okay. When you had been here earlier in the day, in the morning, at about 5:30, you drove around the building, hit it with a spotlight on your patrol vehicle, and these vehi, doors, windows were all closed? V.R. Yes sir. J.IJ. Okay. All right, do you have any idear, uh, what this fire is, how this fire started? V.R. Personally or .... J.W. Personally? V.R. .... professionally? All right. J.W. Personally. V.R. Personally, I believe it was, an accelerant was used. J.W. Okay. Do you know .... V.R. Determined by, let me, let me say why, because of the patterns that we believed were accel- erant patterns on the carpet, number 1. Num- ber 2, it appears that somebody, between 5:.30 and 7:30, opened the windows for ventilation and another finding we did have was the air conditioner thermostat was set to the on posi- tion and the temperature was between 80 and 85 degrees. Uh, through normal, through in- vestigation and interviewing the people who work here, usually they turn the air condition- er off before they leave, but they cannot swear that it was turned off. So, at that point, we, we made us believe or assume that the air conditioner was also turned on to veri- tilate a fire. (15) MQ Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 J.W. Okay. Do you know of anyone who would in- tentionally set fire to this place? V.R. All I can say right now is it's under in- vestigation, I, there have been numerous threats made towards the, uh, the newspaper and the business, and they are being inves- tigated. J.W. Okay. Okay, sir, uh, is there anything else that you'd like to add in connection that . you feel, with anything else you'd like to add that you feel may be of value to my in- vestigation? V.R. Well, the only thing, you know, that we can state is what the fire marshal has said, you know, and that the fire has not been de- termined yet, the cause of it, and it may be electrical. J.W. Okay. Well .... V.R. You know, naturally, we're gonna have to wait to find out. J.W. Okay. Well, let me say this, uh, you know, our investigation is continuing and, uh, I, uh, we have not determined .... V.R. Right. J.W. .... made any call on the fire., uh, uh, let me see .... V.R. Well, our department has, is waiting for the decision of the state fire marshal's investi- gation as far as the crime lab is concerned, I have been appointed to investigate the pos- sibility that, if it was arson, I am inter- viewing everybody that I can think of, in- cluding employees, former employees, and also possible suspects, because of recent threats. J.W. Okay. And, uh, are you at liberty to tell me who has made these threats or who you're interviewing? V.R. At this point, no, I, I can't do that. (16) /a3 I I I I I Officer V. W. Regan MASA Contract No. 04860268 J.W. Okay, fine. Okay, well, I have no further questions for you at this time, uh, Officer Regan, and I certainly do appreciate you takin' the time to talk to me. The time is 3:46 p.m. Today is the 1st of May, 1986. Once again, for the record, would you state your full name? V.R. Victor W. Regan. J.W. Okay, Officer Regan, and are you aware there's been a recording of this conversation? V.R. Yes I am. J.W. And has it been with your permission? V.R. Yes it has. J.W. Okay sir, uh, once again, I'm James Wark with M. A. Stringer & Associates, in Tampa, Florida, and, with your permission, I'll shut off this recorder. V.R. No problem. /lb (17) gay