Indictments handed down in Mare Island wine warehouse fire
Federal prosecutors on Monday indicted a Bay area businessman for starting a 2005 blaze that destroyed a massive Mare Island wine warehouse and six million bottles of wine.
The 19-count indictment against wine entrepreneur Mark Anderson, 58, includes charges of arson, tax evasion, mail fraud, using a fake name and interstate transportation of fraudulently obtained property.
The charges allege that Anderson, who rented space from the warehouse owners, set the blaze to cover up embezzling wine from his customers, who stored wine with his company. The charges allege that his customers knew nothing of the sales.
Prosecutors do not expect to charge anyone else in the blaze, which destroyed $100 million worth of inventories from 92 wineries stored at the Mare Island warehouse. A total estimate of the fire loses, including the warehouse, ranges from $200 million to $250 million. The destroyed wine included the entire inventories of some small wineries, as well as some private collections of rare wines.
