Albany police arrest a man in connection with a massive warehouse fire in downtown Albany. The fire broke out at the old Central Warehouse last Friday, and it wasn't long before officials said it was suspicious. Our Erin Vannella has the latest.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- An arrest has been made in connection with the fire that broke out at the old Central Warehouse in Albany last week.

Albany police said a joint investigation with the fire department and the district attorney's office led to the arrest of George Ellis, 35, of Rensselaer on charges of third-degree burglary, third-degree grand larceny, and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Police said the fire, which broke out around 4 p.m. on Oct. 22, was apparently caused by excessive sparking from sawing through metal pipes inside the building. The cork insulation caught on fire, which spread throughout the 11-story building.

Ellis is accused of going inside the building with three of his employees and cutting metal piping between July and the day of the fire. He allegedly took more than 200,000 pounds of pipe valued at over $26,000, which was sold to a scrap yard in Cohoes.

Police said an initial investigation found that Ellis had originally contracted with the current owner to be inside the building to salvage piping, but that agreement ran out in June and he was no longer authorized to be there.

Ellis was arraigned in Albany City Criminal Court and sent to Albany County Jail. The investigation is on-going.