GORHAM–In June, a man arrested in Gorham last year will begin a month’s jail sentence for possession of sexually explicit material.

Ronald Meserve, 63, pleaded guilty Friday in a misdemeanor plea hearing in Cumberland County Court in which some charges were dismissed. Meserve also was given two years of probation and is required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

But Meserve is dealing with other problems. He faces cleaning up the aftermath of a spectacular fire in the early evening of March 11 that destroyed his barn and house in the week prior to the hearing. He had lived there 40 years. He and his wife Darlene lost all their possessions and several pets. The fire remains under investigation and Meserve has been questioned about his role in the fire. And he was just fired from his part-time job.

“This is surreal. This is like going to sleep and waking up and everything is evaporated,” Meserve said this week.

In June 2009, the State Police Computer Crime Unit arrested Meserve at his home at 8 Newell St., Gorham, which housed a child day care, and charged him with possession of child pornography.

In an interview Monday, Meserve claimed he had not searched for child pornography or intentionally downloaded it and said he never saved it.

He said the child pornography on his computer was a result of his searching by computer for adult pornography.

Police did not find evidence that children at the Teddy Bear Day Care at Meserve’s residence were involved, but the Department of Health and Human Services was notified before Meserve was arrested on June 9. Meserve’s wife, Darlene, had operated the day care.

“I’m here,” Darlene Meserve said Monday when asked about whether she’s standing by her husband.

“I didn’t kill you yet, so I guess you’re good,” she said to her husband, as they stood in front of the charred rubble left in the fire’s aftermath.

Earlier Monday morning, Meserve, a former businessman who had previously operated filling stations in Gorham, said he was fired over the phone from a part-time sales representative job.

He also said he was told Monday on a cell phone by a probation official that he had to register as a sex offender.

Meserve said no one in court had informed him of registering information. Meserve said he is staying with a brother-in-law in Waterboro.

Meserve’s name hadn’t appeared by Wednesday morning on the Maine Sex Offender Registry posted on line. A detective at the York County Sheriff’s Office didn’t return messages left Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Teddy Bear Day Care had been closed since June 10, the day after Meserve was arrested. Darlene Meserve said she was scared the day state and Gorham police went to the home.

“I was like, whoa,” she said. “We never dealt with cops before. They called him and made him come home.”

Darlene Meserve ran the Teddy Bear Day Care for 20 years and originally had 10 children. “I loved my kids,” she said.

She voluntarily closed the day care while the human services department investigated. “They nit-picked everything,” e said.

According to John Martins, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, the day care was cited for neglect for physical plant issues and lack of supervision.

She wanted to re-open her day care and asked. “I said if I do this can have my kids back and they said yes,” Darlene Meserve said.

She said in two weeks she did everything the state wanted done. But, she said, the fire marshal was sent to the home and said the chimney needed a liner. The day care never re-opened.

She didn’t contest the state’s findings in court.

“I couldn’t do it,” Darlene Meserve said, “emotionally, it was too much. The Department of Human Services said I’m neglectful. I can’t even work in a day care. They’d give me a bad recommendation.”

She said parents of day care children were supportive. One former day care client, Shannon Collins, this week said the child care at Teddy Bear Day Care was excellent. “My son went there for pretty much seven years, since he was 1,” said Collins,

Eight days before Meserve’s appearance at last week’s plea hearing in Cumberland County Court in Portland, a three-alarm fire destroyed his home and barn. Meserve and his wife along with three non-family members escaped unharmed.

The cause of the fire was still undetermined Tuesday as the extensive damage has hampered the investigation.

“It’s still an open investigation,” said Sgt. Joel Davis of the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office, who added interviews remain to be conducted.

Meserve said he had talked with a fire marshal.

“The fire marshal said, ‘Mr. Meserve did you start that fire?’ and I said certainly I didn’t. I wouldn’t risk the lives of people who were present,” Meserve said Monday.

Meserve said he was asked to take a polygraph but he said a lawyer advised him not to because of the stress he was under.

Davis declined to comment on the investigation.

Meserve believes a battery charger for a power tool or the rechargeable batteries caused the fire.

He said he had plugged it in about 7:15 p.m. and 30 minutes later he said a fire was “melting cars” in the driveway. From the barn, investigators retrieved electrical gear to be analyzed.

The fire left the Meserves homeless. “My life is minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day,” Darlene Meserve said Monday.

He hopes to rebuild on the site. “I have nothing,” Meserve said about his finances following the fire.

He said wife is starting a part-time job.

Meserve said Friday in court that they had just learned they weren’t covered by insurance.

But, on Monday, Meserve said there was a possibility of a mortgage company paying off the mortgage, leaving the Meserves with responsibility of cleaning up the site.

“There’s no money for rebuilding,” Meserve said.

He estimated cleanup as costing $30,000 to $40,000. He said his wife’s brother would handle the cleanup.

He and his wife were Monday still sifting through the ruins for personal valuables like his wife’s wallet and jewelry. The fire claimed the lives of several pets including two cats, a chinchilla, a ferret, a rabbit and Jinks, a cocker spaniel not quite 2 years old.

On the evening of the fire Darlene Meserve said the lights had flickered and she went upstairs to tell her husband.

“We looked toward the driveway and saw an orange glow,” she said. “The driveway was all lit up.”

She said it sounded like a gas tank on a car in the barn blew and the barn went really quick. She said three young adults in the home were “booking it” across the street.

Gorham’s deputy fire chief previously said that the fire was reported about 7:45 p.m. and the buildings were fully involved when firefighters arrived.

Darlene Meserve said her husband saved the 7-year-old golden retriever, Jasmine. But she the cocker spaniel ran under a bed.

“I called for her and called for her. I couldn’t get her,” she said. “She was scared.”

They found the dog and buried it last week.

“We lost four working cars and one antique car underneath the barn,” she said.

Meserve said a nearby fire hydrant didn’t have enough capacity. “They ran out of water. They had to bring some in on a truck,” he said said.

In court Friday, Meserve was given a sentence of 364 days with all but 30 days suspended.

“I’m terribly sorry for the loss of your property,” Judge MaryGay Kennedy said, but she still meted out jail time.