Man Allegedly Burns Own Restaurant in New York, Busted by Surveillance System He Installed

You know, those cameras are there for a reason? Officials say a restaurant owner who saw his own business shut down over the summer for COVID-19 violations, decided to take matters into his own hands. And in this particular case, police say the 54 year-old New Jersey man settled the matter by allegedly setting fire to his own restaurant. He just might have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those surveillance cameras in his restaurant that eventually busted him.

ABC NY says that while the alleged crime took place in August 2020, an ongoing investigation recently revealed that the owner of the business was identified as the suspect in the video above. The owner can be seen in the surveillance footage setting fires in several locations inside the Astoria restaurant. But aside from the surveillance cameras, another issue that foiled his plan was the sprinkler system. The video, posted by CBS, shows the sprinklers knocking down the flames, thus preventing the fire from spreading much further. You think he didn't really plan for this too well? Did he not know there were security cameras and a sprinkler system in his own restaurant?

Police say he has now been charged with one count of arson, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison.

As bad as this could have been, at least there wasn't anyone else in the restaurant eating when the fire was set. That wasn't the case in December 2020, when police say a 36 year-old man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail inside the Hung Fu Restaurant in Kingston. Officials say there were customers inside the restaurant at the time of the incident, but no was injured.

What is it with people wanting to blow up restaurants? Aren't businesses going through enough with everything?