Thomas A. Ruppert, the 17-year-old youth who was arrested last Friday in connection with the fire at the Yonkers Jewish Community Center in which nine children and three adults were killed, was continued in $50, 000 bail today after a preliminary court hearing. Judge Gilbert N. Landy is expected to give a preliminary ruling in the next few days.
During the hearing, a police detective said that the youth confessed to setting the fire and later repeated his confession twice. The detective, Brendan Magner, said that Ruppert, a part-time employe at the Jewish Center, told him he had poured a can of “something that smelled like alcohol” over some construction debris in the building and then left it burning.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
