Chase Anthony Davis, Arson, Georgia 2019

Savannah, GA: Chase Anthony Davis, a 31-year-old man from Savannah, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for setting fires in a historic Savannah restaurant.

A federal jury convicted Davis in October 2019 on an arson charge after a three-day trial. According to evidence presented at trial, on the evening of May 8, 2019, Davis, then an employee of the Gryphon Tea Room, broke into the landmark restaurant located at 337 Bull Street in Savannah’s Historic District.

Davis set six separate fires in the dining room area of the restaurant owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design. The fires self-extinguished, and the property damage caused to the restaurant has since been restored.

Gryphon shares space with The Arts Café and The Scottish Rite Temple and is closely connected with numerous historic residential structures and St. John’s Episcopal Church. It is housed in an adapted early 20th century apothecary constructed between 1913 and 1926.

“This bungled arson could have caused tremendous physical and cultural damage to historic structures in Savannah,” said U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine. “Fortunately the tablecloths were fire-retardant, and the Savannah Fire Department quickly took care of the rest and kept any damage to a minimum. And now the arsonist will have considerable time behind bars to ponder his felonious folly.”

This case was investigated by the ATF and the Savannah Police Department, and was prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Bearden and Jenna Solari.

Chase Anthony Davis, Arson, is the defendant in this case. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison in U.S. District Court and will be required to serve a period of supervised release after completion of his prison term.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/arsonist-who-targeted-savannahs-historic-gryphon-tea-room-sentenced-federal-prison