Man charged with setting fire behind Mandeville Beer Garden

A 39-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson overnight in a fire officers said was deliberately set behind Mandeville Beer Garden. 

A Sarasota Police officer, responding to the scene, reported finding Joe Thompson watching the 1:30 a.m. fire from a nearby chair in the 400 block of N. Lemon Avenue. 

When officers asked what was going on, “Thompson spontaneously uttered, ‘They told me to clean it up, so I set it on fire,’ ” the officer's report states.

After the fire was put out, the State Fire Marshal’s Office determined the blaze was started with a lighter and no accelerant was used. The fire damaged a phone junction box and its connecting wires, and came just a few feet from a nitrogen tank and propane line, the report states.

Thompson was charged with arson. At the time of publication, he was still in police custody.

According to Mandeville’s Facebook page, the restaurant is open for business Tuesday.