Christine Dempsey
The Middletown Press, Conn.
(TNS)
Jan. 17—ELLINGTON — State police said they made an arrest in a recent fire at the local Masonic lodge.
Gino Salvatore DeGrandis, 23, was arrested Friday on a warrant charging him with third-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief, police said Tuesday. He was in custody on $100,000 bond Tuesday morning and was scheduled to be arraigned in state Superior Court in Rockville later in the day.
The fire at the Fayette Lodge No. 69, 141 Orchard St., was reported the morning of Jan 7, according to the Ellington Volunteer Fire Department. No one was in the building, and the firefighters were able to get the blaze under control before the building was destroyed.
According to the warrant for his arrest, an investigation showed DeGrandis stayed at a homeless shelter in the Rockville section of Vernon the night before the fire, bought gasoline at a gas station down the block and used it to start the fire. A surveillance camera captured him splashing some type of liquid from what appeared to be a cup on the door closest to the lodge's parking lot, which was burned in the fire, the warrant stated.
An accelerant-sniffing police dog later alerted to the presence of a flammable liquid on the burnt door and on his sneaker and front left pocket, the warrant said.
Another surveillance camera at the gas station on Union Street showed DeGrandis, wearing the same clothes, picking up a clear plastic cup from the garbage and pumping gas into it shortly before 8 a.m. that day, according to the warrant.
DeGrandis played a role in his arrest by calling 911 the day after the fire, the warrant stated. He was wearing the same clothes as he was in the surveillance videos from the day before, the warrant said.
He told the Vernon officer he called police because "he was a freemason and his mother wouldn't talk to him," according to the warrant.
During his interview with state police detectives, DeGrandis again said he was a freemason and admitted he was at the lodge the morning of the fire, the warrant stated. He said he noticed that the side door was on fire, but he did not say that he started it, the warrant said.
DeGrandis did acknowledge that he did not try to put the fire out or call 911, the warrant said.
DeGrandis also said he saw the surveillance picture of himself on TV news broadcasts.
"He was not sure who took the photo, but asserted that it was him in the photo," the detectives wrote in the warrant.
A representative of the Masons told state police that it cost $29,304 to repair the damage from the fire because of the building's advanced age and environmental concerns, the warrant said.
Christine Dempsey may be reached at [email protected]..
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