An Aurora man suspected of starting a five-alarm fire in a partially built apartment complex on Leetsdale Drive in Denver was seen filling a container with gasoline approximately one hour before he walked onto the construction site, investigators wrote in an arrest affidavit.
Tony Becerra, 38, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of three counts of arson for starting a fire that destroyed the Harker Heights apartment complex in Denver’s Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood on Jan. 2.
While the cause and origin of the fire are still under investigation, investigators used both city-owned and private surveillance cameras to identify Becerra and track his movements for more than two hours both before and after the fire started, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent wrote in the affidavit.
Denver Fire Department and federal investigators obtained video that showed someone leaving the construction site in the 5300 block of Leetsdale Drive through a west gate at 6:34 p.m., about 10 minutes before the first 911 call came in about a fire at the apartment complex.
From there, various cameras caught the man — dressed in black pants, a black shirt, a black mask and white undershirt and carrying a black bag — briefly sitting on a bench near Leetsdale and Holly Street as smoke started rising from the building.
Investigators then tracked him walking eastbound on Leetsdale for about a mile before walking into an Indian restaurant and going into the bathroom to change clothes.
Law enforcement first saw the man’s face as he walked out of the restaurant, and they used two different facial recognition programs to identify him as Becerra, according to the affidavit. He then took a Regional Transportation District bus and light rail back to Aurora, getting off at the Florida station just before 8 p.m.
Investigators again used surveillance video to follow Becerra’s movements before the fire started, backtracking from the scene to find him at a gas station near East Colfax Avenue and Yosemite Street in Aurora at 5:24 p.m.
The station is near a transitional housing facility that Becerra listed as his address on his driver’s license.
Surveillance video showed Becerra putting a black bag on the ground near a gas pump and filling up something inside the bag before leaving the area, according to the affidavit.
From there, Becerra took an RTD bus to 8th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard and walked south on Colorado to Leetsdale Drive, where he walked into the Harker Heights construction site at 6:30 p.m.
The affidavit did not provide any additional details about a possible connection between Becerra and the apartment complex. Managers with the construction and security companies on the Harker Heights project did not know who he was, investigators wrote.
Becerra appeared in court on Thursday morning, where a judge set a bail of $50,000 for cash, surety or property or $5,000 cash, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
His next court date was not available Thursday night.
