A local Job Corps participant and a Connecticut man were arrested in Vergennes, Vt., on charges they set another teen on fire in a bathroom.

Deputy State’s Attorney Christopher Perkett said Vergennes police arrested Joshua Bonifas-Kelly, 18, of Salem, on Monday, March 31, and Jason Eagen, 22, of Waterbury, Conn., on felony charges of aggravated assault.

Police responded to the Northlands Job Corps Center on Monday, March 24, following a report that Ryan Coy, 19, had first- and second-degree burns from a fire set to his shirt, Perkett said.

Job Corps, a vocational training program offered through the U.S. Department of Labor, prepares men and women with employment skills at 122 centers across the country.

Perkett said the three men were cleaning the bathroom of the facility when the incident took place, and followup interviews led investigators to believe Bonifas-Kelly and Eagen set Coy’s shirt on fire.

“In speaking with both defendants and the victim, it became very clear that the defendants intentionally set his shirt on fire,” Perkett said. “Their initial story was that (Coy) asked them to burn his shirt in a particular manner.”

The felony charge each man faces is punishable with up to 15 years in prison.

In addition to the felony charge, Perkett said each man faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct, punishable with up to a year in prison and $5,000 in fines.

On Tuesday, March 25, both men pleaded innocent to all charges at their arraignment, where a judge maintained bail at $10,000, Perkett said.