Three people, including a former employee, have been charged in connection with the arson case earlier this year at a south Charlotte Goodwill store.
The fire closed the Goodwill store for seven months.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have not released information about the arrests, but Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont announced the developments Tuesday night.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
“After several months of investigation, police today arrested three individuals in connection to the case, including a former Goodwill employee,” communications director Holly Cooper said in a news release.
The fire, on Feb. 23, caused $500,000 damage to the Goodwill store in the 6600 block of South Boulevard. The store was not reopened until Sept. 22.
A search warrant obtained in March by WCNC-TV, the Observer’s news partner, said a 1996 blue Ford Crown Victoria was seen on surveillance video at a parking lot next to the Goodwill store, shortly before the fire started. According to the search warrant, the car belonged to a female employee who had lost her job with Goodwill a day earlier.
Police said in the warrant that the former employee “was extremely angry with the victim business because of being fired,” WCNC reported.
The surveillance video also showed someone using a car jack to break a glass door, and the person then poured liquid throughout the store, before using a match to light the fire.
Police searched the former employee’s car, the search warrant said, and found matches similar to those used at the fire scene.
In the news release, Goodwill’s Cooper said, “While the responsible parties must be held accountable for this crime, it is hard to comprehend why anyone would set out to harm our organization, which has worked for almost 50 years to help people in our community.”
