BOSTON (WHDH) - A cook accused of setting the restaurant where he worked on fire will be arraigned Monday following his indictment on an arson charge, officials said.
Byron Hewitt, 45, will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court in connection with a December blaze that partially burned down Flames Restaurant in Mattapan, according to a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
Firefighters responding to a report of smoke at the Morton Street restaurant shortly after 2 a.m. on Dec. 15 extinguished the blaze, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damage and forced the business to close. A review of the business’ surveillance cameras showed Hewitt – who had been working at the business for eight years — walk into the restaurant after it closed, spread blue gel from a cooking fuel can throughout a storage area, and light it on fire, prosecutors said.
Hewitt was arrested March 26 and arraigned the following day in Dorchester Municipal Court.
On May 3, after a presentment by the DA’s point person for arson investigations, a Suffolk County grand jury returned an indictment charging Hewitt with arson.
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