SAN JOSE — A fatal three-alarm fire at a shuttered adult sex-toy store Sunday appears to have been started by a man who once ran the business but was recently evicted, and broke back in before he perished in the shop’s basement, authorities and sources said.
CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the video on a mobile device
State business and court records, as well as people who know the shop’s operator, indicate that the business had been in turmoil in recent months prior to the fire, which is now being investigated as an arson. Police were also told that the man had previously threatened to “blow up the building” on East Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose.
The fire broke out around 5:30 p.m., after police were called to the Craze 4 Toys Adult Superstore for reports that a man wielding a sledgehammer was heard yelling threats, before he broke into the shop on the north side of the block between First and Second streets.
Responding officers learned that a man described as an “old tenant,” got frustrated that the front doors to the adult shop were locked, and tried getting in through an access point at the mini-mart next door, according to police. Officers noticed movement inside the store, and then determined that the man had likely descended into a basement.
Police backed away and ordered nearby businesses to evacuate after smoke began emanating from the building. After the fire was brought under control — during which four firefighters suffered unspecified injuries — a man’s body was found in the store’s basement. The deceased man’s name has not been formally released pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin.
“We’re operating on the assumption that he started the fire or multiple fires,” San Jose fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said, while noting that the precise circumstances are under investigation. “We’re operating under the assumption that the body we found was the person making the threats.”
Early Monday, few remnants of the fire could be seen from the outside besides some scorch and charring marks on the section of the building where the fire is believed to have started, and an adjacent mini-mart.
The owner of the mini-mart told KCBS that he had called police on the adult store operator several times in the recent past. Law-enforcement sources confirmed that the man seen at the store Sunday was the subject of previous 911 calls related to threats he allegedly made.
An acquaintance of the shop owner, Luke McDonald, said the man was going through recent struggles.
“He was an immigrant and trying to keep his business running. He went through a divorce. I think he was having difficulties with a couple things. People trying to shut down his business,” McDonald told ABC7, this news organization’s media partner.
A day before the fire, what appeared to be a closure notice could be seen posted on the entrance to the store entrance, along with a cryptic message. Its author referenced that a need to do “court paperwork” and that he was living there, and that having his access to the building cut off meant he could not retrieve his documents.
The owner was served with an eviction notice on Aug. 30 and the eviction became final on Sept. 5, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
According to business license records from the California Secretary of State’s Office, the Craze 4 Toys business was operated by a company called Bay Area Finance, Inc. until late 2016. That was around the time that it was sued by Rapid Capital Finance LLC, for defaulting on a $45,000 loan.
In early 2017, Bay Area Finance, Inc. was dissolved, and replaced by Fantasy & Desires, which was categorized as a nonprofit headed by the same shop owner, records show. In its most recent incorporation articles, the shop defined itself as a nonprofit for “public purposes,” more specifically, “for the purpose of sexual education and awareness of various alternatives for both women and men to prevent sexual dysfunction, abuse, and assist with maintaining healthy sexual relationships with oneself and with others.”
The nonprofit was dissolved in March of this year, and the shop had been only intermittently open since then. A month later, a court reached a default judgment in favor of Rapid Capital Finance LLC, which is now Bambu Finance, for $56,444.
Calls and messages left for the building’s listed owner, as well as business associates named in incorporation and lawsuit documents, were not immediately returned Monday.
Staff writer Thy Vo contributed to this report.
#Update | I just spoke to a source that confirmed:
A body was found inside the engulfed building.
My source believes the owner of the adult store is responsible for the arson.
More info: ⬇️https://t.co/FknP53xmRj@abc7newsbayarea pic.twitter.com/BpjgHIJNcj
— Luz Peña (@LuzPenaABC7) September 16, 2019