Restaurateur guilty of arson

PROVIDENCE — Franklin Diaz, now a resident of Orlando, Florida, has been found guilty by a federal jury in U.S. District Court here of arson in connection with a fire in a restaurant in 1999 in Providence. Diaz was acquitted of charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and using fire to commit a felony after the four day trial. Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres ordered Diaz to be held at the Wyatt Center in Central Falls pending sentencing June 8. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie S. Browne presented evidence that Diaz, who operated Prestigio, a restaurant at 247 Reservoir Ave., Providence, purchased a $100,000 insurance policy on the restaurant from Lloyds of London while he was negotiating unsuccessfully to buy the building in which the restaurant was located. Subsequently a fire broke out in the basement of the restaurant and later he filed a claim for $82,000. Investigators reported they had found fire accelerants in the basement and evidence that the fire had been set. They also learned that only Diaz and his wife had keys to the cellar, Browne told the jury.