Charges laid in '07 arson spree
A jailed convict is now facing multiple arson charges four years after homes in the Christie Pits area were severely damaged by a spate of early-morning fires.
Police announced the arrest of Dallas Rostant, 30, at a news conference on Dec. 21.
The fires, set between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. on July 2, 2007, caused about $1 million worth of damage to multiple homes, garages, porches, fences and vehicles in neighbourhoods between Shaw and Christie streets.
Police say they were able to lay charges after officers made a DNA link between Rostant and physical evidence found at the scene of the fires.
Rostant is currently imprisoned in the Bath Institution near Kingston on unrelated charges. According to police, he has been in custody for nearly two years. Police don’t have time limits or borders when it comes to pursuing cases that have seemingly gone cold, Constable Tony Vella said days after the arrest.
“All cases that we have are always open until they are solved,” he said.
Rostant has been charged with nine counts of arson with disregard for human life, nine counts of arson to property, possession of incendiary material and theft under $5,000.
