A man who worked as the superintendent of an apartment building in Poughkeepsie has been convicted of attempted arson for trying to set fire to the building while residents were still inside. A jury found 69-year-old Lord Gio Hernandez Cuevito guilty in the case, which played out in Dutchess County. The verdict brings to a close a trial centered on an attempt to burn down a residential building that people were living in at the time.
The charge of attempted arson reflects the seriousness of what prosecutors said took place. According to the case, the target was not an empty structure but the very apartment building where Hernandez Cuevito was employed as superintendent. Authorities emphasized that residents were still inside the building when the attempt was made, raising the stakes of an act that could have put many people in danger.
Much of the case rested on surveillance footage. Investigators said video showed Hernandez Cuevito pouring gasoline down the stairs of the apartment building. The images captured the steps that, according to the jury's finding, amounted to an attempt to set the structure ablaze.
The footage did not stop at the gasoline. According to the case presented at trial, the video also showed him then attempting to ignite it with a lighter. It was that combination, pouring an accelerant and trying to light it, that formed the core of the attempted arson the jury ultimately convicted him of.
The building at the center of the case is located at 2 Row Street in Poughkeepsie. The address, an ordinary residential apartment building, became the scene of an attempt that, had it succeeded, could have endangered everyone living there. Instead, the building stood and the case moved toward the courts.
The incident itself did not happen recently. According to the account presented in the case, it took place in April of last year. The time that has passed since then reflects the path the matter took from the initial incident through investigation and trial to a verdict.
With the jury's guilty verdict now delivered, the case turns to the question of punishment. Hernandez Cuevito is scheduled to be sentenced in July. The sentencing will determine the consequences he faces for the attempted arson of the building where he worked and where residents were living when the attempt was made.