Man who allegedly set fire to 3 Masonic halls faces additional charges - Action News
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Man who allegedly set fire to 3 Masonic halls faces additional charges

Benjamin Kohlman, 42, is facing more charges for allegedly setting fire to three Masonic lodges last week and made a brief court appearance Tuesday.

Benjamin Kohlman made a brief court appearance via video Tuesday

Benjamin Kohlman is facing more charges related to three alleged arsons at Masonic halls in Vancouver and North Vancouver. (Felicity Don)

A man accused of setting fire tothree Masonic halls in Vancouver and North Vancouver last weekis facing further charges.

Benjamin Kohlman, 42, was chargedlast weekwith arson andassaulting a police officerin relation to a fire at a Masonic temple near Rupert Street and East 29th Avenue in Vancouver on March 30.

On Tuesday, he was charged with five more offences: two additional counts of arson and three counts of break and enter to commit arson.

Kohlman made a brief appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court Tuesday afternoon via video link.

A fire official said more than two dozen firefighters worked to put out the fire at Lynn Valley Lodge last week after the alleged arson there. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

On March 30, fires were reported at three Masonic halls over the span of about an hour between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. PT: the Lynn ValleyandDuke of Connaughtlodgesin North Vancouver andthe Park Lodge Masonic Hall in Vancouver.

Kohlman was arrested just before 10 a.m. in Burnaby near North Fraser Way and Marine Way, about a 20-minute drive from the location of the last of the fires, police said last week.

The entrance to the Park Lodge Hall in Vancouver was taped off after the alleged arson. (Christian Amundson/CBC News)