BEAUMONT, Texas — A Beaumont judge and councilmember are sharing insight after a 14-page search warrant led to the raid on businessman Tom Flanagan's offices on Wednesday.
The search warrant, signed by Jefferson County’s 252nd District Court Judge Raquel West, specifically referred to Flanagan as a “suspected party.”
Beaumont Fire Department investigators were assisted by Beaumont Police and agents from the ATF as they executed the warrant at Flanagan’s offices in the San Jacinto Building at 595 Orleans in downtown.
The affidavit highlights financial issues, challenges in obtaining insurance and a history of fires at buildings owned by Flanagan.
"You know there's really just two general motives for arson," said Judge Randy Shelton. "One is to, you know, money motivated and the other is to maybe cover a crime. Sometimes it can be both."
According to investigators, all are financially related motives for arson. Judge Shelton says that determines what investigators will be looking for in the documents they seized from his offices.
“But if there’s a financial motive, I think that, that would be a time when the police or law enforcement would be really wanting to dig through a bunch of financial records, and computer records, and phone records, and employment records," said Judge Shelton. "You know, just to find out what the financial situation of an owner of a building would be happening.”
Judge Shelton says that while police investigate, they’ll determine if the documents they seized contain enough evidence to implicate Flanagan in the arson of the Gilbert Building.
According to a search warrant, investigators allege that Flanagan hired someone to burn the Gilbert Building as well as two other buildings on June 6th.
"There were at least two other fires, deliberately set, which appears to have been an attempt to pull off the Gilbert Building resources necessary to find the other fires," said Councilman Mike Getz. "That's an alarming development that the investigation revealed."
Investigators allege Flanagan resorted to arson to avoid having to do a costly asbestos abatement on the Gilbert Building.
"Even when they're tearing it off the walls, they will actually cover the entire room in some plastic, all the way around it so nothing will get out," said Judge Shelton. "So yeah, [yes] it's very dangerous material. And expect it's very expensive to remove it, especially if you're trying to keep the building you know intact."
The affidavit also states that he stopped paying insurance on four of his buildings , two of which are all connected to the Gilbert Building.
"They touch each other and so, a fire in one building can easily spread to an adjacent building, and quickly engulf a whole block," said Getz. "The Gilbert Building was you know, an example of what could happen if not for the quick actions of our fire department."
In the wake of the Gilbert Building fire, Beaumont City Council members created a downtown vacant building registry in order to hold building owners accountable.
"Burglar alarms, fire alarms, cameras, lighting, and that's important to deter criminal activity," said Getz. "And we've seen criminal activity as recently as the Gilbert Building fire."
Judge Shelton says the course of the investigation will be determined by what investigators find in the documents they seized from his offices.
"They'll just go through all those records with a fine-tooth comb," said Judge Shelton. "You know, looking for, you know, any evidence that the owner of a building in a situation similar to this might be implicated in a crime."
Jefferson County District Attorney Keith Giblin walked 12News through the next steps and released a statement saying, “after this process is complete, the case is submitted to the district attorney’s office or other prosecuting agency to determine if criminal charges should be filed.”
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.