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Man Charged With Arson in January Town Home Blaze

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TBO.com

Published: March 31, 2009

PALM HARBOR - A man has been charged with arson in connection with a January blaze at a multi-unit town home building in Palm Harbor that left 8 people displaced.

Francis McClure, 52, was arrested on a charge of first-degree arson on Monday. He was being held this morning at the Pinellas County Jail on $50,000 bond.

On Jan. 2, a fire erupted in the building at 486 Lakeview Drive, in West Lake Village. The building had six units in a row with adjoining walls.

After the fire broke out, fire officials said McClure had begun cooking cubes of cake in oil on his stove, apparently in keeping with an old-style New Orleans recipe, then stepped outside.

Now, however, the Pinellas Sheriff's Office says McClure set the blaze intentionally. Deputies accuse him of destroying six units in the building, including the one where he was living in at the time, according to his arrest affidavit.

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