The Gainesville police and fire departments tightened gaps in communication between the two entities this week after arresting 42-year-old Legrand Tacogdoy, the alleged arsonist who set fire to the dining van at Satchel’s Pizza restaurant on Dec. 15.
In an interview with Mainstreet, the restaurant’s owner Satchel Raye said the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and Gainesville Fire Rescue (GFR) responded to the blaze on Sunday after someone saw smoke in the van and called 911. Around six piles of napkins were found on fire in the van.
Raye purchased the Ford Falcon van in 1993 and drove it around as his own vehicle before turning it into a dining space for restaurant customers. Patrons traditionally left behind signatures and stickers on the inside of the van roof.
“We’ve had two other fire incidents, one in 2012 and one in 2016,” Raye said. “But those were in the kitchen due to infrastructure demands. This is arson, this is traumatic.”
Raye said he first met the arson suspect on Thanksgiving when he found him sleeping on a bench in front of the restaurant. He said he didn’t want to kick Tacogdoy out with it being the holidays and he wasn’t causing a problem. Satchel’s employees continued finding piles of napkins in the van being used by Tacogdoy as pillows.
When Raye was unable to get in contact with police by Monday to investigate the fire, he called GFR to find out if he could start repairing the van. They told him the case was not theirs to investigate.
On Tuesday, Raye texted the patrol officer who had shown up to the Sunday incident with a tip that the alleged arsonist had been spotted at a bar. Receiving no response, Raye went to the bar himself to find the suspect, but the bar was already closed.
“I assumed [the officer] was off on Monday and Tuesday and not checking a work phone,” he said.
By Wednesday, Ray had still received no response from GPD to investigate the case. He posted the security camera footage and multiple messages on Facebook—something he said he only does when there’s nowhere else to turn—and sent letters to both Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward and City Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker asking for help.
The letters prompted Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya’s involvement, and he met with Raye, GFR Interim Chief Joseph Hillhouse and Gainesville marketing and communications director Jennifer Smart at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Officers arrested Tacogdoy four hours later.
“I don’t know why he tried to burn my business down when I was letting him sleep there,” Raye said. “I’m just glad they caught him.”
During Ward’s media availability on Thursday, Moya explained the miscommunication stemmed from the fact that up until Wednesday, GPD only investigated cases involving persons deceased from fires, or where a fire had been intentionally set to cover up another crime.
After responding to the initial call to extinguish the fire at Satchel’s on Sunday, Moya said the fire department should have conducted a follow-up investigation.
“Where we lacked our response is the fact that from Sunday night to Monday, there was no fire investigation into the small fire,” he said.
Moya said he “absolutely sympathized” with Raye for taking matters into his own hands. He said he did exactly what people should do if their government fails them. But Moya added that the efforts of the public should never be severed by the work of public safety officers.
“Me and Chief Hillhouse [spoke Wednesday],” Moya said. “By the end of the business day, there was a protocol in place that is tighter than we had.”
Raye said Moya’s response to right the wrongs regarding his restaurant’s case and use it as a way to make things better for the future impressed him, and that he didn’t want people thinking poorly of GPD.
“Where else are we going to go when we need help?” he said. “When we make mistakes at the restaurant we do the same thing, use it as an opportunity to grow.”
On Thursday, Raye painted a fresh coat of teal paint over the decade’s worth of mementos left behind on the van roof to erase smoke damage from the fire. He and his staff had already re-painted the van floor, sanded all the wood, scattered baking soda to get rid of the smell of smoke and washed the windows of gang tags graffitied by the arsonist.
“I still have to finish painting, let it dry and put the lights back up,” Raye said. “But it should be open after Christmas.”
Editors note: The information originally stated Raye first met Tacogdoy after he slept in the van. This has been corrected.
I’m Satchel. It was a pleasure talking with Lillian while I painted the van ceiling.
I want to add a couple small corrections and comments.
The suspect was sleeping on a bench out front on Thanksgiving when I first met him. After the fire I found out from employees that they had found napkins being used as a pillow in the van recently so we assumed he had slept in there also.
It’s not just the holidays that kept me from sending him away, it’s that if a person has nowhere safe to sleep and they find a bench at my restaurant a safe place, as long as they don’t leave a mess or cause a problem I try not to overreact to that. I always interact with them, like I did with this suspect, and explain my approach.
I didn’t suspect this individual would light fires at a location where he slept, but quickly realized that we’re dealing with what many have characterized as a person with schizophreniia. So that’s the real issue here, mental health.
The 2012 fire was behind the ovens in the kitchen, the 2016 fire was at a sound booth in the bar. Both events aged me in ways I’ll never understand, but aside from a crystal ball , we had no way of preventing them.
Arson, on the other hand, while likely only property damage in this case, is still something no one should have to experience. Someone is either hearing voices and making a cry for help (my first thought,) or they have a score to settle (very unlikely in this case.)
The multiple fires intentionally set were small only because someone called right away (thank you whoever you are,) and the fire department responded quickly.
Satchels is not only my second, (sometimes first) home, but the home to 65 staff and a larger community. If the fire had gotten out of control, it would have led right to the stained glass porch where I’ve made 43 stained glass windows that took 1.5 years to make.
We got dozens of tips from locals about this individual and two people in particular were able to help locate this person in a way that police could be there to get him into custody.
Getting dangerous people off the streets is what we all want from our Police Department. We also all want the homeless and mentally ill to get some sort of help that will keep them from future dangerous behaviors. That second part is going to be the hardest part of this case.
The habit of Gainesville/Alachua County officials to “pass the buck” is way too entrenched. I have encountered it repeatedly. I’m glad that for once the publicity made this into an opportunity to learn and improve — but honestly I doubt it will change the lax culture.
Thank you Mr Satchel. Your incredible sense of helping others & giving of yourself (which is really the secret to Life) displays in a situation like this. Add to that, the immense joy and value available to everyone by visiting Satchel’s!! A one of a kind experience for generations. My wish is that you make sure to take care of you, too.
We love you and thank you for the profound impact in our community. May we all help, however small, our fellow man who is struggling too.
‘Satchels Satchels give pizza chants’ ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Generally anyone who needs to sleep in a van outside of a pizza place is nuts. And nutty people do nutty things like set fire to stuff… If you want to do something for the nut, give him a slice of pizza then tell him to leave the property.