The owners of The Station nightclub have hired a newly formed investigative firm to assist their defense against possible criminal charges from the Feb. 20 fire that consumed the club and killed 99 people.
Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, the brothers who ran the West Warwick club, are working with Advantage Security Consultants, a private investigative and security consulting firm with a mailing address in Providence, according to law-enforcement officials close to the investigation.
Two retired Rhode Island police officers -- former East Providence police Capt. Joseph Broadmeadow and retired state police Lt. Daniel Morrison -- make up the firm.
Broadmeadow's late father, Joseph E. Broadmeadow, was once West Warwick's police chief.
Broadmeadow and Morrison, citing the privacy of their clients, would neither confirm nor deny yesterday that they are working for the Derderians.
"We offer clients confidentiality," said Broadmeadow. "We wouldn't confirm working for anybody."
Pyrotechnics used to open a rock show by the band Great White are blamed for igniting packing foam used as soundproofing around The Station's stage. The flames spread in seconds and consumed the building in minutes.
The Derderians have maintained that the band never asked, nor ever received approval, to use the fireworks. Band members have insisted that the club owners gave them the OK to use pyrotechnics.
Broadmeadow and Morrison were hired within days of the tragedy. Their firm, a limited liability corporation, was formed last July, according to records from the secretary of state's office.
Morrison is a registered private investigator in North Kingstown. He was granted his license last November. In Rhode Island, private investigators get their licenses from the town where they live.
Broadmeadow, who said he has been a private investigator for less than a year, lives in Rehoboth, Mass., and is not required to get a license from town officials.
East Providence Police Chief Gary P. Dias said that Broadmeadow worked for the Police Department for 20 years and retired in 1998. Broadmeadow had a strong background in computers and had previously worked in narcotics and vice, he said.
Broadmeadow said that he has experience with "electronic wiretaps," and had worked on several federal investigations.
State police Maj. John J. Leyden said Morrison retired as lieutenant in 1998 after nearly 20 years on the job. He said that Morrison had worked in narcotics and the detective division. His last post was as night executive officer.
A search warrant for Michael Derderian's Narragansett home was returned to District Court, South Kingstown, yesterday afternoon. Judge Frank J. Cenerini ordered the search warrant sealed at the request of the state police and West Warwick investigators.
Clerks in District Court, Warwick, said that a warrant and affidavit related to the fire investigation were returned there yesterday, too. That material was ordered sealed by Judge Robert J. Rahill.
Earlier warrants were not sealed upon their return to the court.
Papers on file with West Warwick show that Jeffrey Derderian, a television news reporter, was more than just a silent partner in the nightclub. He sometimes requested special Police and Fire Department details for the club. Jeff Derderian requested the police detail for The Station on the night of the fire.
ONE OF the outstanding questions in the fire's aftermath is how much property or liability insurance coverage the Derderians may have carried for The Station.
Providence lawyer Anthony DeMarco confirmed yesterday that he has been retained by the Derderians' insurance carrier to represent them in the many civil suits expected to be filed as a result of the fire.
He refused to name the company that insured the nightclub or how much coverage the Derderians carried, but added, "That is going to be information that is out there very shortly."
On a separate insurance front, the state Department of Labor and Training has issued a complaint charging that the Derderians failed to carry workers' compensation insurance as required by law.
Atty. Gen. Patrick Lynch said Thursday that he is considering criminal charges for the failure to carry workers' compensation coverage.
A LETTER filed with West Warwick town government shows that the company that tested the club's fire alarm every six months had planned to stop coming because club ownership did not pay its bill.
Joseph La Fontaine, owner of New England Custom Alarms, informed The Station in a letter last December, addressed "to whom it may concern," that his company would no longer perform the club's state-mandated, semiannual fire alarm inspection, due to nonpayment.
La Fontaine sent a copy of the letter to West Warwick.
La Fontaine, in an interview yesterday, said his company last tested the fire alarm at The Station in September of last year. The next test was due this month, he said.
He declined to reveal how much the club owed. But he said the club had not paid its last invoice. New England Custom Alarms bills yearly; an alarm test costs $65 to $85, he said.
GOVERNOR Carcieri has spoken with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card about potential sources of federal aid for the fire response, said Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal.
Card "expressed the White House's interest in finding ways to help Rhode Island," Neal said.
Carcieri had been trying to arrange a meeting with the Bush administration to plead his case that The Station fire was worthy of a federal disaster declaration.
The fire continues to inspire people to be generous: donations to The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund reached $916,500 yesterday. To date, $281,160 has been committed from the fund to the victims. Of that amount, $269,000 will pay for funerals, the remainder for other expenses such as housing, transportation and food.
House Speaker William Murphy, D-West Warwick, has floated the possibility of a state compensation fund for fire victims.
Senate President William V. Irons said yesterday that creating such a fund is "a totally inappropriate discussion at this point."
Irons said the purpose of a new special legislative commission was to listen to testimony from the fire marshal, fire inspectors, building officials and others, and then decide later what legislation might be needed.
Some of his members have asked him to allow in bills on fire safety and related topics, but "I haven't allowed it," he said.
"There will be plenty of time to discuss what legislation should come forth," he said, rather than to "bog down in debate about whose bill is the best."
Murphy yesterday announced his appointment of Representatives Peter Ginaitt, D-Warwick, David Laroche, D-Woonsocket, and Robert Lowe, D-North Smithfield, to the special legislative commission.
Ginaitt is a 20-year veteran of the Warwick Fire Department. Laroche has been a private in the Woonsocket Fire Department for 20 years. Lowe is chair of the Fire Safety Issue Commission, a permanent standing state panel.
With reports from Tracy Breton, David McPherson, Zachary R. Mider and Liz Anderson.
