ALBANY - It didn't take long for investigators to figure out how the massive Central Warehouse fire started. What remains a mystery is how the suspect got away with his alleged crime scheme for so long without being detected.

For nearly four months, from July until Oct. 22, four different men would walk unnoticed into the Central Warehouse in Albany allegedly to steal pipes.

Last Friday, police say, a spark from their tools touched off the intense fire and that fire sparked an intense investigation.

It's hard to believe that leading up to the Central Warehouse fire -- so hugely visible -- there had been a group of alleged perpetrators who went about their daily business virtually invisible.

The man at the center of the cast iron caper, police say, is 35-year-old George Ellis of Rensselaer.

WATERFORD- An Albany County corrections officer has been suspended after being arrested for assaulting his 5-year-old daughter Thursday, according to the Waterford Town Police Department.

Jason M. Brammer, of Waterford, was charged with assault after allegedly hitting his daughter several times. Police say the girl had bruising on her body as a result of the abuse.

Brammer, whose been with the department for four years, was suspended without pay as of Friday. He was also issued an appearance ticket and will return to Waterford Town Court at a later date.

The accused gunman in a weekend shooting in Cohoes was found guilty of first-degree assault after a retrial.

Police say 25-year-old Kenneth Thomas of Troy shot a man outside the “Matchbox bar” in Cohoes back in 2008.

Twenty-five year old Kenneth Thomas of Troy originally faced a jury in September 2008 but, on the third day of that trial, pleaded guilty to the Attempted Murder charge. After being sentenced to 22 years in state prison the Third Department Appellate Division invalidated his plea, and the case was returned for further proceedings because of a technicality.

In his second trial, no plea was entered, yet the jury convicted Thomas of shooting his victim with a handgun with intent to cause the victim serious physical injury. The shooting took place during a fistfight.