Construction Worker Acquitted in Lancaster Condominiums’ Fire : Courts: Crew foreman Gabriel G. Cevallos claims another employee was responsible for the $3-million blaze.

A construction worker has been acquitted of charges he set fire to a 127-unit condominium project in Lancaster last June, one of the costliest fires in Antelope Valley history.

After deliberating for two days, a Lancaster Superior Court jury Wednesday found Gabriel G. Cevallos, 26, of Lancaster not guilty of two counts of arson in connection with the $3-million fire.

Cevallos was the foreman for a framing crew that was working on the unoccupied Marbella Villas townhouses before the June 16 fire.

“It was a pretty tragic thing that happened to me. It’s been hell for nine months,” Cevallos said Thursday. Cevallos said he has gone into debt and has been mostly unemployed since his July arrest and 26-day jail stay.

Witnesses gave conflicting accounts during the 12-day trial on whether Cevallos had set the fire. Cevallos and others maintained that he had been at a family barbecue, but one witness said Cevallos had confessed to setting the blaze in revenge for not being paid for work on the project.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Ogden, who prosecuted the case, said he still believes Cevallos is guilty. Ogden acknowledged that “the case was not as strong as we would like it to be,” but said there was enough evidence to justify Cevallos standing trial.

In an interview Thursday, Cevallos said he believes another construction worker started the fire, a claim dismissed by Ogden. Cevallos said he is looking for an attorney to file a wrongful prosecution lawsuit over the case.

The fire, which sent up a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles, damaged or destroyed more than 90 of the units in the nearly completed project.

About 250 county firefighters, aided by several water-dropping helicopters, battled the blaze for 90 minutes. Authorities believed it was arson since a smaller fire had been set in the garage of one of the units June 6, causing about $5,000 damage.

Cevallos said he saw the smoke from his Lancaster home, drove to the burning condominiums and even tried to call in a report of the blaze. But Ogden said he arrived too quickly. Prosecutors believed Cevallos set the fire, went home to the barbecue and then returned to the fire scene.

Authorities initially estimated the damage at the condominium to be $6 million, a figure later reduced to $3 million. Ogden said that was the amount the developer, Hamdan Project Development Corp. of Century City, later received from its insurance company. Company officials would not confirm that amount Thursday, but said the project is being rebuilt and should open by September.

Cevallos would have faced a sentence of up to nine years in state prison had he been convicted, Ogden said. Cevallos was accused of one count of arson in connection with the fire at the condominium project at 30th Street West and Avenue K-4. A second count was added as a result of damage to a nearby house caused by flying embers.

Saturday, Cevallos will celebrate his 27th birthday with his family. “We’re going to have a party, but no barbecue,” Cevallos said.