A former employee at Palm Beach Downs equestrian center is facing arson charges after authorities say he confessed to setting fires at the horse-training facility.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue responded Wednesday morning to the center on Atlantic Avenue, west of State Road 7, and found a fire in the facility’s snack bar building. The building was unoccupied and the fire was extinguished.
Investigators say 21-year-old Guillermo Rodriguez Torres told them he did it to get back at the people who were responsible for his firing a few days earlier.
Authorities say no horses or people were hurt in the blaze, but that the flames did result in about $50,000 worth of damage.
Torres, who is listed in jail records as homeless, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail following the incident.