Man charged with 3 counts of arson after Masonic Lodge fire
Posted February 28, 2017 6:13 pm.
Last Updated March 1, 2017 11:23 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police have charged a 36-year-old man with three counts of arson after a fire at a Masonic Lodge in Toronto’s west end.
The fire started shortly before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Weston Masonic Temple on Weston Road, near Lawrence Avenue West.
There are reports a Molotov cocktail was tossed through the building’s basement window.
The blaze was small and was quickly extinguished, but it caused damage to the left side of the building.
No one was injured.
Michael Mendez was arrested just before 8 p.m. He had a bail hearing in a Toronto court on Wednesday morning.
Toronto Fire said there have been other suspicious fires in the neighbourhood, but it’s not known if they are connected to Mendez. However, police said the Masonic Temple fire was not connected to the fire at the Islamic information centre on Wednesday morning.
