Police say a Northampton man was found heavily intoxicated in the downtown area of two set fires -- outside the King Street CVS and at a synagogue on Prospect Street -- early Monday.
Gregory McMaster, 39, of Summer Street, pled not guilty to charges of burning personal property, burning a building and assault and battery on a police officer in Northampton District Court on Tuesday.
The fires Monday caused roughly $45,000 in damages, according to court documents.
Targets set ablaze included a large stack of plastic containers set on pallets behind the CVS and a tool shed outside Congregation B'nai Israel's Abundance Farm. Nobody saw McMaster set either fire, but surveillance footage from the Pride's gas station nearby the CVS captured McMaster on foot there near the time of the fire, and when police caught up with him, he was within 500 feet of the synagogue's property line.