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Saratoga County Sheriff’s deputies began investigating after someone broke into Curtis Lumber on State Route 67 in the Town of Ballston after the business closed on Nov. 27, 2017.
The suspect spent hours on the property sabotaging electrical and gas systems in several buildings, damaging computer systems, and tampering with the 911 system on a Verizon Wireless tower located on the property, according to police.
He also set fire to a storage building that was filled with sub-flooring, police said.
Total damage was estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Investigators eventually concluded that Anthony Paradise Jr., age 44, was the man responsible for the break-in, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office.
On June 9, he was charged with multiple crimes relating to the incident, including arson, burglary, and criminal tampering, all felonies.
Paradise was already jailed in Greene County awaiting trial for murder.
He’s accused of strangling and killing his 38-year-old cellmate, Delmus Tanner, in November 2018, the Albany Times Union reports.
Paradise was serving a 16-month to four-year sentence for robbing a Saratoga Springs bank in 2017, the outlet reports.
“I would like to thank Saratoga County Sheriff Mike Zurlo and the criminal investigation for their diligence and persistence in solving this very unusual crime," said Jay Curtis, owner of Curtis Lumber. "We are extremely pleased and look forward to this being behind us.”
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