Wednesday, July 27, 2016

The owner of a Brooklyn building that caught fire in November 2014, killing one man, was taken into custody


Man arrested in connection with fatal Brooklyn fire in 2014






Eyewitness News
Updated 1 hr 11 mins ago
BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) -- The owner of a Brooklyn building that caught fire in November 2014, killing one man, was taken into custody at Miami International Airport.

Luckner Lorient, 78, was returning to United States from Haiti when he was arrested on an outstanding fugitive warrant.

Lorient is being held on a sealed indictment related to the fire. He will appear in court in Downtown Brooklyn Thursday afternoon, at the earliest.

The charges stem from the investigation of the November 19, 2014 fire at 1434 Flatbush Ave. that killed a 24-year-old man and injured 14 others.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development had previously issued three violations for dangerously subdividing the basement, second and third floors.

Lorient is the longtime pastor at Eglise Baptist Clarte Celeste in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

He is being held in the Miami Dade County Jail as of Tuesday night.