Teachers, parents, and young students gathered outside what’s left of the Little Harvard Learning Academy in Laplace. The former St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church burned to the ground late Thursday night. Timothy Charles Jr., the ex-husband of daycare operator Briena Hayes is now accused of intentionally setting the fire. “When I thought it was Mother Nature, it was hurtful, but when I found out it was him, it hurt more because that’s like one of the people who is the closest,” Hayes said. “There’s nothing I thought that I could have done that hurtful to somebody to hurt me in that way.” St. John Sheriff Mike Tregre says Charles was determined to burn down the daycare and that he tried not once but twice to do so. “He came and lit the fire and he left,” Tregre said. “What happened was that Thursday night the weather was very bad. That fire went out, was put out by the weather. He then came back a second time and then lit the fire and was successful.”