Arrest in Arson Case

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has announced the arrest of a Polk County man who allegedly set fire to a manufacturing plant, which resulted in a total loss of the building at a cost of over $22 million. The fire left 309 employees out of work for some three months and 153 workers were on the job at the time of the fire.

Efrin "Frankie" Castro was arrested in Lake Wales after a seven-month investigation by the State Fire Marshal Bureau of Fire and Arson. He is believed to has set on fire a stack of stock boxes on the side of the Bartow-based Flanders PrecisionAire Factory. It took firefighters four days to completely extinguish the blaze. If convicted, Castro faces up to 30 years in prison.