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Fine imposed in case of Elmwood Ave. fire
By MATT GRYTA
News Staff Reporter
11/29/2006
Former Buffalo businessman Lon Coldiron was fined $5,320 Tuesday but spared a jail term in connection with the mysterious fire that destroyed his Elmwood Avenue coffee shop and killed his dog two years ago.
Erie County Judge Timothy J. Drury, however, denied a request from Travelers Insurance that Coldiron pay $283,500 in restitution.
Coldiron, 40, was found guilty in May of attempted grand larceny. A jury that deliberated four days couldn't reach a verdict on a felony arson charge.
Michael McCabe, chief of the district attorney's Arson Bureau, told Drury that prosecutors would not retry Coldiron on the arson charge.
Drury pointedly turned down Travelers' request for compensation from Coldiron for the amount it had paid to Ramesh Chainani of Amherst, who had leased the three-story Buffalo building to Coldiron.
Both the judge and prosecutor noted the insurer "cannot lawfully request" restitution because Coldiron, recently fired from a trucking industry job, was not convicted of setting the fire.
Drury ordered Coldiron to perform 100 hours of community service over five years while on probation, pay $320 of his court fines within a month and begin making $500-a-month payments until the full court debt is covered.
David G. Jay, Coldiron's attorney, told the judge the case was his client's first involvement with the criminal courts.
Noting that Coldiron had taken the stand in his own defense, Drury said he agreed with probation officers who found the former businessman to be "a good candidate for probation."
Coldiron was rescued from his third-floor apartment above his business during the early morning fire.
After sentencing, Coldiron said he will appeal his conviction, contending he never attempted to collect insurance.
"I still say that I'm innocent of the charges of which I was convicted. I am a good guy," he said.
He noted no flammable liquids were found linking him to the fire.
Coldiron said Chainani, his former landlord, had sold the property at 718 Elmwood for about $180,000 shortly after the arson in addition to collecting the full insurance coverage.
He also claimed arson investigators ignored "evidence of a door jammed open" that he said suggested intruders had torched the building.
On the witness stand in May, Coldiron denied any involvement in the arson and told the jury he had been receiving threatening telephone calls for weeks before the fire.
Prosecutors presented evidence that the state Department of Taxation and Finance had been hounding Coldiron for $24,000 in overdue sales tax payments. He also had casino gambling debts, had only $800 in the bank and took out insurance policies a month before the fire, prosecutors said.
Coldiron insisted his landlord had forced him to obtain the insurance and said he never attempted to collect on those policies.
He also insisted he had expected to work out his tax problems with the state and had been confident the coffee shop would have become very successful.
I'm so angry that the arson investigators never contacted me and this guy is lying through his teeth. Things possibly could have been different if I had testified. Yet even after trying to contact them, they never questioned me once.
insanity..pure insanity. Stupid Lon.
If he wasn't convicted guilty of arson, how is it that he needs to pay over $5,000?
That thing stunk from day 1. Did this guy do it or didn't he, and if he did, how is it that got away with it?
I have to admit - I'm curious about your connection Libertad and how your testimony could have changed things. Did you know this guy and hear things?
worst part is, that stupid fire burned down my barbers shop. you may have heard of him, chik. that man is awesome.