Boston-- A Chelsea businessman was arrested today on a charge of arson in connection with a fire at a former longtime Chelsea business.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and William J. Hoover, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced today that TODD F. LECCESE, age 31, of 7 Pine Tree Drive, Saugus, was arrested on a Complaint charging him with arson.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the Complaint, it is alleged that LECCESE, owner of TL's Discount, a Chelsea furniture and bargain goods store, enlisted Chelsea resident Shawn Sandler to set a fire on June 19, 2003 at a competing Chelsea business, Slaton's Furniture Jewelry and Appliances, located at 286-294 Broadway. Following the fire, the owner of Slaton's, which had operated at the site since 1941, decided to retire and sell the building. LECCESE subsequently purchased the building in October of 2003, relocating his store there.

The charge against LECCESE is the result of an ongoing federal investigation into suspicious fires at four different Chelsea businesses that occurred between April of 2001 and July of 2003, each of which competes or competed with LECCESE's store, including Doug's Bargains on Broadway, located at 430 Broadway, and then again after it moved to 472 Broadway; Doug's Jewelry Store located at 411 Broadway; New England Discount Center Furniture located at 306 Broadway; and Slaton's.

LECCESE will appear later today in federal court in Boston before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles B. Swartwood, III. If convicted, LECCESE faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years up to 20 years in prison.

Sandler, age 38, of 182 Chestnut Street in Chelsea, was charged in May of this year in a two-count federal indictment with setting the June 19, 2003 fire at Slaton's and another fire on July 23, 2003 at Doug's Bargains on Broadway Store.

The case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Chelsea Fire and Police Departments, and Massachusetts State Police Troopers assigned to the Massachusetts State Fire Marshal's Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald L. Cabell in Sullivan's Major Crimes Unit.