FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report

A Hudson teenager charged with setting a fire at the Walmart in Vaudreuil-Dorion in February that kept the store on De la Gare Blvd. closed for three months will be sentenced this fall after he appeared before a Quebec Court judge on June 17 and pleaded guilty.

Luciano Minisini Burke, 18, will return to the Valleyfield courthouse on Oct. 15, where he will learn if he will face prison time. While Burke initially pleaded not guilty to charges that he lit a fire inside the store on Feb. 20, while shoppers were inside the building, he waived his release hearing last month, and will remain in custody until the fall.

Burke was charged with two counts of wilfully causing fire damage to the Walmart and causing fire damage to property with the knowledge that individuals were in the store. In unrelated incidents, he also faced charges of causing fire damage to residences under construction in Piedmont and Terrebonne. 

Police arrested Burke the same day as the fire at Walmart, and he appeared before a Quebec Court judge in February, where he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, which ruled that he was fit to stand trial.

The damage to the store was so extensive that it took three months to carry out repairs. The Walmart finally reopened on May 16.

At his court appearance on June 17, the accused entered guilty pleas to all counts related to the fire at Walmart, while a conditional sentence was imposed on the charges related to the fires in the other municipalities.