Guy A. Lewis, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Robert Crowder, Sheriff, Martin County Sheriff's Office; Jose I. Marrero, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation and Hugo J. Barrera, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, announce today that a federal grand jury sitting in Ft. Pierce, Florida, has returned a five-count Indictment charging Anthony Norelli with arson and filing false income tax returns. Norelli was arrested this afternoon and will have his initial appearance on Friday, April 12, 2002, at 9:30 a.m., before United States Magistrate Judge Frank Lynch in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

If convicted, Norelli faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years on the arson charges and a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He also faces a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of three years for filing false income tax returns.

The Indictment is the result of an investigation begun by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, following a fire on June 8, 2000, at a building then owned by Chemplex Industries, Inc. The fire did an estimated $62,500 damage to the building located at 3091 SE Waaler, Street, Stuart. A fire was set in June, 1999, at the same building. The State Fire Marshall determined that both fires were the result of arson and did an estimated $202,000 damage. The Indictment alleges that Norelli participated in setting both fires.

The indictment alleges that Norelli failed to include a total of $308,305 in income, which had been diverted or otherwise obtained from Chemplex Industries, Inc., on his individual income tax returns for 1995, 1996 and 1997.


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