State police have arrested a man accused of setting a fire at a masonic lodge in Ellington earlier this month.
Detectives arrested 23-year-old Gino DeGrandis in Vernon on Friday.
DeGrandis is responsible for setting a fire at the Fayette Masonic Lodge on Orchard Street on the morning of January 7, according to state police.
Police say DeGrandis is the person seen in multiple surveillance videos approaching the lodge with items in his hands, including a cup.
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Investigators released an image from the surveillance footage to ask public to identify the person seen at the lodge.
Detectives received a tip that DeGrandis had been at a shelter the day before the fire wearing the same clothes as seen in the image, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police located DeGrandis and interviewed him on January 9.
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According to the arrest affidavit, DeGrandis told police he was a Freemason and that he belonged to the lodge in Ellington. He said he went to the lodge on the day of the fire and also admitted he was the person seen in the surveillance image, according to court documents.
Police also obtained surveillance footage from a Gulf gas station on Union Street in Vernon.
The footage shows a man, later identified as DeGrandis, hand the clerk money at the counter, then walk outside and pull a plastic cup from a garbage can located between the gas pumps. He then pumped gas into the cup, according to the arrest affidavit.
Based on the evidence, police got a warrant for DeGrandis and arrested him on Friday. He was charged with third-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief.
He was held on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
