Posted on 11/04/2011 3:15:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man was in jail Friday to face charges related to a fire that burned two buildings and caused $10 million damage.
Police arrested Benjamin Gilmore, 29 Thursday night. He's accused of setting the fire in a 4-story building that was under construction at 311 Mason St.
That fire spread to Penny Flats, a nearby building that had condominiums and stores in it.
Investigators determined the fire was arson.
It broke out at 3:30 a.m. on October 24. The building that was under construction was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Investigators from the National Response Team of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms worked with Poudre Fire Authority and Fort Collins Police. The investigators spent six days at the site of the fire before releasing it to the property owners.
Gilmore is under investigation for 1st degree Arson, 2nd degree Burglary and Criminal Mischief. His advisement hearing is scheduled to happen Friday afternoon.
Gilmore is well-known at the Occupy Ft. Collins protest. He was interviewed about the goals of the protest in an article by Kevin Mussman that sppeared on TRI-102.5 radio's website.
That happened before the fire.
Gilmore is described as a business owner and war veteran in the article.
From the Fort Collins newspaper:
Gilmore, a registered Republican, was an early supporter of Occupy Fort Collins, which has set up camp a block away from where the fire burned. Tuesday, he addressed City Council asking the city to be more accommodating to the movement. In an online video featured on www.tri1025 Gilmore said he was frustrated by the income disparity between executives and workers, and told people they should turn in their paper money for gold and other metals.
Occupy Fort Collins activist suspected of Old Town fire
Time to change your registration to Socialist Labor Party.
So, at least he HAS a home unlike the people who had theirs burned down.
you can register as any party. Sounds reichstag-ish to me.
The OWS crowd sound like a really wonderful bunch of people. Toe-sniffers, rapists, arsonists.
Burn his house down, then prosicute. Looking forward to this puke doing the perp walk in orange.
What drives a man from political protestor to arsonist? Unless he was always a bit disturbed, either blaming others for his lack of professional progress or never really getting past the antisocial cliques he hung with over the year?
Or maybe he was a dedicated anarchist like most of these “Occupy” protesters?
It looks like Dan is going to have to have another bake sale.
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