Owner of condominium offering $500K reward in arson attempt
But prominent city lawyer cautions that if tipster goes to police, the deal is off
It’s not about money for him ... He doesn’t want to be the occasion of putting people at risk
As the investigation into a possible arson that damaged a Warehouse District condo complex continues, one of the units’ owners is offering a “princely sum” for information about how the blaze began.
A surveillance video has been circulating online, portraying activities leading up to a Jan. 11 apartment fire on Halifax Street. Lawyer Tony Merchant claims the person depicted behaving suspiciously in the video is an arsonist, and a novice one at that.
“I would recommend he take up a different trade,” Merchant said Tuesday, noting the individual appears to bungle a number of attempts to set fuel from a jerry can alight before success is registered by a large flash.
Further, the person appears to have set himself or herself on fire, before fleeing the scene, Merchant said.
While Regina police have not referred to the fire as an arson, they have called the event suspicious and an investigation is underway.
A police spokesperson said the force is aware of a surveillance video and that it is part of the investigation.
However, Merchant’s client, Joe Wollner, who owns a condo in the complex, is now offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who he feels was trying to target him.
Upon Merchant’s recommendation, his client had initially offered a reward of $25,000. But when no tips came in, Wollner jacked the reward offering to what Merchant said was an unprecedented amount.
“It’s not about money for him,” Merchant said, noting that his client is a “very astute businessman.”
“He doesn’t want to be the occasion of putting people at risk,” he said, noting that one of the building’s tenants escaped the building, “in his pyjamas, through the smoke.”
Wollner contacted various media outlets, including the Leader-Post, to set up a press conference Monday. However, when reporters showed up to the fire-damaged apartment building, Wollner never appeared.
Monday evening, Wollner sent a message to the Leader-Post indicating he’d taken ill and was unable to attend the meeting with reporters, but that he intends to reschedule. Efforts to contact him Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Regarding Wollner’s obligation to actually pay out the reward money, Merchant said he would advise anyone with information to contact a lawyer before coming forward.
While Merchant suggests anyone with information should contact him first if they expect to collect on the reward (“Forget about getting any money as soon as you contact the Regina city police,” he said), the Regina Police Service said the public should think about something else.
“This isn’t about money. It’s about solving a crime,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said in an email. “Mr. Merchant is representing his client, not the public. The Regina Police Service acts on behalf of the public. Let the police do what the police do: gather information and objectively evaluate it; then clarify, question, challenge and corroborate it … without bringing the offer of a half-million dollar reward into the picture. If there is a reward to be considered, let it happen through the process of Crime Stoppers, or the Board of Police Commissioners.”
While Merchant said he would take information received to police, when asked if information going through someone else could be considered obstruction of justice, Popowich wrote: “It really depends on what is done with information associated to this case.”
As of Tuesday, no tips had come to Merchant, despite the mammoth reward.
Police have not yet charged anyone in connection with the fire but the investigation is ongoing.