Wine Warehouse fire

Mar. 19 - KGO - A local wine distributor is now charged with a hundred-million-dollar cover-up after a huge fire at a North Bay warehouse.

The U.S. Attorney says the suspect Mark Anderson had ties to the Wine Central warehouse.

The Sausalito wine entrepreneur rented space here to store wine for his clients.

McGregor Scott, U.S. Attorney Eastern Districts: "However, instead of storing the wines, Mr. Anderson sold and attempted to sell the wine without his clients' permission, all for his own personal gain."

Authorities say Anderson torched the warehouse to cover up the thefts of his clients' wines.

The huge facility contained 500,000 cases of wines, worth more than $100 million dollars. The loss included wines from some 90 wineries. Some smaller ones almost lost their entire inventory. Decades-old vintage wines from 40 private collections were also destroyed.

A federal grand jury indicted Anderson last Thursday. He was arrested Friday.

ABC7 caught the 58-year-old suspect late last year at a restaurant party near his home in Sausalito.

Investigators say Anderson was at the warehouse on the day of the fire. Something else that aroused their suspicions was the fact that Anderson had already been charged by Marin County authorities with embezzlement, they say for stealing his clients' wines.

Scott Paulin, Sausalito Police Chief: "One of the victims came forward initially reporting that 90 percent of their wine storage was missing and that led us to 10 other victims that have now come forward."

The ATF's Stephen Martin says Anderson, if convicted, faces a long prison term.

Stephen Martin, ATF Special Agent in Charge: "This is what happens when a motivated arsonist takes something as simple as a flame and he plans a violent attack on people's livelihood for his personal gain."

The federal grand jury returned a 19-count indictment against Anderson, charges which include arson, fraud and tax evasion. He was arraigned today in federal court.