Palmer man on trial for allegedly burning down rental property for $500k insurance payoff [masslive.com]

MassLive.com

SPRINGFIELD — More than three years after a fast-moving fire sent his tenants fleeing from a building in Palmer, Joseph F. Gulluni Jr. is standing trial for multiple counts of arson and insurance fraud.

The blaze swallowed up a six-unit property at 2002-2006 Palmer Road in Three Rivers on June 4, 2019. The fire erupted just after 8:30 a.m. that day when two of his tenants were home.

A man on the second floor alerted a woman on the first floor after his fire alarm went off. The woman fled through a side door and the man narrowly escaped after retrieving his dog from the upper level, according to investigators. As the building became filled with smoke, all their belongings were incinerated.

State prosecutors say Gulluni, 66, a cousin of Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, lit the fire himself while he was in dire financial straits.

A trial began Monday in Hampden Superior Court, with attorneys offering dueling versions of the blaze to a jury of seven women and eight men. The case is being handled by a Worcester County prosecutor to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Simmons told jurors Gulluni set the fire with just days left before his insurance policy on the property expired. He bought the building for $30,000, and it was sorely in need of extensive renovations, the prosecutor said, which Gulluni was not equipped to bankroll. There had been a small electrical fire caused by faulty wiring months before, he told jurors.

“He told one of the tenants he wished he’d let the building burn down,” Simmons said during opening arguments Monday morning.

A neighbor’s surveillance video shows Gulluni’s blue Audi pulling up to the property just before 8:30 a.m., when he walked inside the garage where a pile of construction and renovation materials were stored. There is a “flash” on the footage just before Gulluni leaves the garage. He got into his car and backs out of the driveway, as smoke begins to unfurl through a window 47 seconds later.

“Meanwhile, you can watch the smoke fill the garage,” Simmons told the panel. “This is all on surveillance video, and you’ll be able to watch it.”

Defense attorney Daniel D. Kelly argued his client did not set the fire, and it had been quietly smoldering before he arrived at the property. Furthermore, he argued there was no meaningful financial gain Gulluni could have realized that could not have been earned through simply selling one or more of his 10 other rental properties.

“If he really wanted a couple hundred grand, he could have called a real estate agent,” Kelly argued. “This financial motive was contrived out of desperation.”

The fire quickly turned into an inferno and neighboring fire departments joined Palmer in fighting the blaze and protecting nearby properties. A Palmer police detective wrote in a report the tenants were lucky to have escaped with their lives.

A search of Gulluni’s Audi turned up five cigarette lighters. But, there were no signs of an accelerant that would have hastened a fire, Kelly told jurors. Nor was any detected at the scene, he added.

“They searched his car and didn’t find a drop. That fire had been smoldering for some time,” Kelly argued.

If convicted, Gulluni faces a maximum sentenced of 20 years in prison. The trial is expect to last for about 10 days before Judge Edward McDonough Jr.