Jury Acquits Construction Worker in $3-Million Fire
A construction worker has been acquitted of charges that he set a fire that gutted most of a 127-unit condominium project in Lancaster last June and became one of the costliest fires in Antelope Valley history.
After deliberating for two days, a Lancaster Superior Court jury found Gabriel G. Cevallos, 26, of Lancaster not guilty Wednesday on two counts of arson in connection with the $3-million blaze. 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 been mostly unemployed since being arrested last July and spending 26 days in jail.
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