Man expected to surrender in arson fire

The owner of a southeast Las Vegas business that burned Thursday afternoon was expected to turn himself in to Clark County Fire Department arson investigators today.

Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said the man confessed late Thursday after his story about encountering two masked men pouring liquid onto a floor in his office began to unravel during questioning by investigators.

Leinbach said he believes the fire may have been motivated by financial concerns.

He said the man has never been arrested and based upon his voluntary confession he was allowed to spend the July 4 weekend with his family to get his affairs in order.

"Clark County fire investigators will make the formal arrest Monday," Leinbach said.

The owner of Speedy Com, a cellular phone and pager company at 3348 E. Tropicana Ave., told investigators he ran from his building after encountering two masked men pouring liquid onto a floor.

A few minutes later the former bank building was on fire, the owner told police.

A two-alarm fire was called in at 3:11 p.m. and the blaze was out by 4 p.m., said Leinbach.

There were no injuries.

Property manager Bob Silagy, an employee of Cal.-Nev. Realty, estimated damage to the building at more than half a million dollars.

The owner of the business has leased the building for the past four months, Silagy said.

"He's a good tenant," Silagy said prior to the alleged confession, "and a good man."

When first constructed, the building housed Nevada Savings and Loan and then went through a series of tenants before the latest tenant moved in.

Metro Police Sgt. Jim Young said the business owner told authorities he was in an office of the building when he heard a noise in an outer office and when he investigated he encountered the two masked suspects.

Robert Garganese, part-owner of the mall located at the northwest corner of the Tropicana Avenue and Pecos Road intersection, said this was the first incident of its kind since the center was completed and opened in 1986.

Mike Patterson, chief arson investigator for the fire department, said a dog sniffed something suspicious in the debris inside the building, indicating there could have been residue of a flammable liquid.

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