Former Cook At Flames Restaurant Heads To Court For Arson

BOSTON, MA —A former cook faces arraignment Monday after a grand jury indicted him for setting the blaze that destroyed Flames Restaurant, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Byron Hewitt, 45, faces arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday on a charge of arson in the December blaze that partially burned down the Mattapan restaurant, which was shut down by the fire and is still closed.

Just after 2 a.m. Dec. 15 someone called police to report smoke and fire at Flames Restaurant on Morton Street. Fire Department officials estimated the fire caused nearly $500,000 in damages.

Among the items damaged was the business’ video equipment, which was sent a private company in an attempt to retrieve surveillance video captured of the fire and the events leading up to it.

On March 9, investigators received the recovered video, which depicts Hewitt – an employee of eight years – go inside the restaurant after it was closed for the night and spread blue gel from a Sterno cooking fuel can in a storage area containing flammable items, including napkins and supplies stored in cardboard boxes. He then used a lighter to set the gel on fire and confirmed that it was spreading before he exited the building, according to prosecuters.

Based on an investigation by Boston Police detectives and Boston firefighters assigned to the Fire Investigation Unit, 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.

Arraignment will take place Monday in the Magistrate’s Session of Suffolk Superior Court.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch