Detectives have charged a 47-year-old man after an alleged arson attack in St Kilda East on Christmas Day.
Following a thorough investigation and public appeal, detectives from the Moorabbin Crime Investigation Unit and the Fugitive Squad arrested John Argento on Tuesday morning.
The Richmond man was arrested without further incident on Victoria Street in Richmond about 9am.
The arrest followed an incident where emergency services responded to reports of a car on fire in the driveway of a property on Balaclava Road in the early hours of 25 December 2025.
No one was inside the car at the time of the fire.
The vehicle had a mobile billboard on the roof to celebrate Hanukkah.
A woman and three children were evacuated from the property as a precaution and no one was physically injured.
A 47-year-old man Richmond man has been charged with the following:
• six counts of criminal damage by fire (arson)
• six counts of shop-steal/theft
• three counts of obtain property by deception.
• two counts of attempted theft from motor vehicle
• theft from motor vehicle.
• burglary
• theft
He will appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court today.
