Landlord accused of torching Albany apartment building

ALBANY — A Cohoes man who reportedly fell behind on the mortgage payments for a four-unit apartment building he owns on Sherman Avenue was accused Tuesday of setting fire to the house just hours after his tenants left the building.

Kerry Bennett, 28, of 61 Heartt Ave., was charged with arson and insurance fraud following an investigation into the June 7 fire by Albany police and fire investigators, the Albany County District Attorney's office and the Frauds Bureau of the state Insurance Department.

Bennett was arraigned in City Criminal Court and returned to the Saratoga County jail, where he was being held on a grand larceny charge in an unrelated case.

According to Investigator Jaclyn Oreshan of the state Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau, Bennett tried to defraud State Farm Insurance Co. out of more than $50,000, the amount of the insurance claim he filed after the fire at 243 Sherman Ave.

Fire investigators said evidence at the scene led them to believe the fire was intentionally set, and video from a security camera mounted on an adjacent building showed Bennett was the last person in the house before the fire started. Tenants living in one second-floor apartment left the building earlier in the day, and the other three apartments were unoccupied.

The late-night fire engulfed the entire top floor of the building and damaged an adjacent home at 241 Sherman Ave., which is also owned by Bennett.

If convicted, Bennett could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.