Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Three teens have been arrested in connection with an arson fire at the convent on the grounds of St. Joseph Hill Academy in Staten Island.
Three twisted teens have been arrested in connection to an arson fire in a Staten Island convent that forced a nun to leap from a second-floor window, breaking her back.
Police say Vincent Calder, 19, set the fire last week inside the old convent on the 14-acre grounds of St. Joseph Hill Academy, a Pre-K through 12th grade Catholic school.
Sister Regina Gegic, 45, was sleeping in the old convent so visiting nuns could stay in the new building when the two-alarm blaze broke out about 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 12.
She broke several vertebrae when she leapt from the burning building. She was treated and released from Staten Island University Hospital North, police said.
Investigators found Calder’s fingerprint at the arson scene, police sources said, and later detained him on an outstanding warrant. Under questioning, he gave up the names of two accomplices.
RELATED: SUSPICIOUS CONVENT FIRE IN STATEN ISLAND INJURES 2 NUNS
He was hit with a slew of hate crime charges including arson, reckless endangerment and trespass, officials said.
Police say he targeted the building out of anti-religious bias.
His alleged accomplices, Christopher Sasso and Diego Tuso, both 19, were each charged with burglary, criminal mischief and trespass, cops said.
None of the teens had prior arrests, officials said.
A new convent was completed this year on the campus, but vandals did $ 15,000 worth of damage in August.
bpaddock@nydailynews.com
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