By Eric Tucker
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — An owner of a nightclub where a fire killed 100 people is performing his community service sentence with a fire and rescue company and a national burn survivors’ group.
Jeffrey Derderian said in a written statement Tuesday that he was grateful for the chance to work with burn victims and had completed nearly 70 hours of his 500-hour sentence.
Derderian sent the statement a few hours after Attorney General Patrick Lynch criticized him for what he said was an “inadequate” amount of community service so far. He said Derderian had not shown proper respect to victims’ relatives and to the judge who sentenced him.
Derderian was ordered to perform community service when he was sentenced in September on 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub. The blaze broke out after pyrotechnics for the band Great White ignited flammable foam lining the walls.
Derderian’s lawyer, Kathleen Hagerty, said Derderian was doing his community service by volunteering at a fire and rescue company in West Greenwich and at the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, based in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“The long process of beginning my community service started many months ago and it was a careful, deliberate process in order to ensure it was meaningful and appropriate,” Derderian said. “The wishes and concerns of burn survivors were always paramount.”
Derderian has three years — the length of his probation — to complete the community service. He initially tried to work with local burn victims but was told there were no opportunities for him, Hagerty said.
At the Phoenix Society, Derderian will do grant research and help organize a communications campaign for a cross-country bike ride, according to Hagerty and a statement from the nonprofit.
The Phoenix Society has worked with survivors of the fire, but Derderian will not be in contact with them, said executive director Amy Acton.
Derderian’s brother, Michael, and former Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele are each serving four-year prison sentences. The Derderians and Biechele avoided trials through plea deals.