The 59-year-old owner of a commercial building that was gutted by fire Tuesday has been released on $2,500 bond.

Michael Ray Childers, of McArthur Street, was arrested late Tuesday morning after Gaffney Police Department investigators said they found a "vast amount" of gambling devices called "ball tabs" or "ball boards" in an office at the fire-ravaged commercial building on East Robinson Street that contained the Sco-Mar textiles outlet.

Childers was booked into the Cherokee County Detention Center on Tuesday and served with an arrest warrant for unlawful gaming on Wednesday morning.

The Gaffney Police Department labeled the fire in a report as suspicious. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) were called to the scene for assistance.

There was no word Thursday about what caused the fire.

(Tim Gulla)