Four who skateboarded and partied in empty factory are arraigned on arson charges.
Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler and First Deputy Fire Chief Charlie Duffy announce arrests for arson at the Marsellus Casket Building on Wilkerson Ave. in Syracuse. Syracuse, NY -- Distraught over his home life and love life,16-year-old Tyler J. Emm told investigators he went to the old Marsellus Casket Co. factory to reminisce about the good times he'd had hanging out there.
While there, he is accused of setting a fire that burned out of control destroying the 121-year-old factory at 101 Richmond Ave. Now he and three others are charged with arson, police said this morning.
Emm was accused Wednesday of arson inconnection with the Sept.29 fire. Police said he and three others also set fire to the building in January 2009.
Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, First Deputy Chief Charlie Duffy, and Fire Investigator Lt. Ken Heffernan spoke at a news conference this morning to announce the arrest of Emm and three others. Police did not release their photos.
Emm, of 685 W. Onondaga St., Apt. 9, is charged with third-degree arson. He is also charged with the fire set in 2009 when he was a juvenile, officials said.
Police also accused: Anthony R. Cheney, 22, of 429 Wilkinson St. and Jared J. Smith, 27, and Amanda M. Martin, 18, both of of 85 Seymour St., Auburn, with third-degree arson for the 2009 fire.
Authorities said the fire began on the Erie Boulevard West side of the building, underneath the landmark clock and about 50 to 60 feet inside the third floor. No utilities were connected to the building after it was left vacant in 2003 when the casket company closed and Syracuse Fire Chief Mark McLees immediately said it was suspicious.
Investigators interviewed neighbors and viewed surveillance videos taken before the fire was reported at about 3 a.m. Sept. 29.
They also went back to interview Emm, Cheney, Smith and Martin, all of whom were suspects in the fire that heavily damaged the northeast corner of the building on Jan. 21, 2009.
Once investigators began questioning them about last week's fire, they began making statements implicating each other, said Assistant District Attorney Timothy Hennigan.
Arrest reports indicate all four defendants were arrested Wednesday at the Public Safety Building.
All four were arraigned this morning before City Judge Langston McKinney.
Third-degree arson is a class C felony carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in state prison.
Marsellus Casket closed in 2003,leaving the building vacant.
By 2009, the red brick casket building at 101 Richmond Ave. had become a clubhouse for the four, said Heffernan. They skateboarded through the open factory building, spray-painted tags in the building and partied on old mattresses that had been brought in off the streets, he said.
On January 21, 2009, using alcohol based hand sanitizer and Axe Body Spray as a blowtorch, the group set fire to old curtains hanging in the executive offices, Duffy said. The burning curtains fell to the floor, igniting mattresses and debris. Unable to put out the fire, the four fled the building, he said.
Firefighters put out the blaze. One firefighter, who slipped on ice while fighting the blaze, fractured his back and was out of work for several months as a result, Duffy said.
Police and fire investigators suspected the four were involved in the fire, Fowler said.
Martin and Smith fled to Georgia, but after fighting with relatives there returned to the area, Heffernan said. They were homeless and told investigators that at times they lived underneath an Interstate 81 bridge.
Last week, Emm was despondent about his life, Fowler said. He had had a fight with his mother, who lives nearby on Wilkinson. He wasn’t going to school and was having problems with his girlfriend.
The teenager decided to return to the factory clubhouse to reminisce about old times, the chief said. “He just decided to start a fire, and the fire got out of control,” Fowler said.
Court papers say Emm entered the abandoned building about 10:30 p.m. Sept. 28.
Emm went to the third floor, Duffy said. He found a box of old paper records and lighted one of the papers dropping it into the box. Emm then tried to stomp out the fire, but the blaze spread.
The court papers say Emm knew the burning papers and box were going to cause “a massive fire” in the abandoned building but he left and made no attempt to call E-911.
Firefighters were called to the scene shortly after 3 a.m. Sept. 29. The factory had heavy wooden floors, posts and floor joists and that 100-year-old dried wood burned easily, Duffy said.
Since the building was unoccupied, firefighters decided to attack the blaze by pouring water on it from the outside, he said. No one was injured in the fire.
Firefighters quickly determined the fire was suspicious, and began questioning witnesses and going back to the suspects from the first fire, Fowler said.
See previous coverage of the Marsellus Casket Co. fire and demolition.