SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- A suspected drunken driver found a way to delay his court appearance: He torched the building, police said.
Christopher Chianese, 26, set the new municipal offices on fire on Nov. 19, causing at least $300,000 in damages, just hours before he was scheduled to answer a felony charge of driving while intoxicated, village authorities alleged.
Chianese, a student at the New York Chiropractic College, was charged Tuesday night with third-degree arson and ordered held on $200,000 cash bail. If convicted, he could get up to 15 years in prison.
The fire destroyed court documents, computers and other equipment in the building, which houses the court and various municipal offices in this village in central New York.
Chianese was convicted in May 2003 of a misdemeanor count of DWI and fined $500.
No one was hurt in the fire, which heavily damaged the ground floor of the two-story building. All court appearances were postponed while offices were being set up in a former library.
