A man active with the Occupy movement in Colorado was convicted on charges of arson, burglary and criminal mischief Friday, due in part to pieces of his Rolex watch found at the scene of the fire. 9 News reports:
Evidence against [Benjamin David] Gilmore included his Rolex watch, which was found in two pieces among the debris near scaffolding inside the building: The bezel was on the second floor, where the fire started; the rest of the watch was on the ground floor. Gilmore’s hands had burns, and photos and video prosecutors used as evidence showed he wasn’t wearing bandages and gloves until after the fire.
The defense argued the watch could have been stolen, and the burns were from Gilmore practicing fire-spinning (performance art where flaming balls are spun on chains) to surprise his wife.
The fire, which destroyed a four-story residential building in October 2011, was set a block away from the Occupy Fort Collins protest site. Gilmore will be sentenced in December and faces up to 30 years in prison.
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