WEBSTER, Mass. — Police in Webster have announced an arrest in a fire that heavily damaged a restaurant in Webster and for break-ins at other restaurants in the area.
The suspect, Joel Batista-Viera, 42 of Webster, will be arraigned Tuesday at Dudley District Court.
Police say they were able to connect Batista-Viera to the Wind Tiki restaurant fire based on a series of other break-ins, and attempted break-ins.
In one of those other cases, someone had broken into the Mexicali Restaurant on Worcester Road and tried unsuccessfully to start a fire the night before the fire Wind Tiki blaze.
Investigators then gathered surveillance videos from several local businesses. and say they identified a man who was in a nearby Mobil gas station at the same time the Wind Tiki was on fire. They say he was a match for a man seen on camera at the Mexicali Restaurant break-in.
Once that man’s photo was released to the public, Batista-Viera was identified as a person of interest, according to police. He was interviewed on Monday and then taken into custody. He’s now facing multiple charges in several cases.
The fire at the Wind Tiki restaurant happened on March 18th.
At the time, the deputy chief of the Webster Fire Department, Chris Jolda, said the landmark building appeared to be a total loss from the fire.
Deputy Chief Jolda said the building has been around for decades in Webster and that the state fire marshal had been notified as they tried to figure out the cause of the blaze.
The first alarm came in at around 2:00 a.m. on March 18.
The first fire crews arrived within three minutes they found flames shooting out of the roof of the building, according to Jolda. The intense heat and smoke pushed crews back, and since no one was inside the building, they set up to fight the fire from the outside.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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