Chris Deverso
/ Photo: Alex Dunbar
CLAY --
The case against a man accused of sparking a large garage fire to collect insurance money in Clay was waved to a grand jury.
Christopher Deverso and another man, 40 year-old Robert Swartz, are charged with arson for allegedly setting a garage on fire at the Norstar Apartment Complex in Clay earlier this month. The garage was destroyed in the fire.
Court paperwork shows the two men have very different versions of events that took place before the fire.
In a signed affidavit, Swartz says he started the fire at the Norstar Apartments garage but only after Deverso "said he would give me $10,000 for doing it so I agreed to do it for him. He gave me the key code to his garage and told me where the gas was."
Deverso was granted $25,000 cash bail or bond in Onondaga County Court Thursday morning.
