LADA charges six people for arson following devastating firestorm

District of Los Angeles County. Atty. Nathan Hochman announced arson charges Friday against six men who set fires in Los Angeles County following the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires.

A man who posed as a firefighter to sneak into a Malibu evacuation zone was also arrested, Hochman said.

The arson defendants set fire to sofas, trash, an abandoned Christmas tree and a dumpster on January 13 and 14, as emergency services prepared to deal with a dangerous wind that threatened to blow intensifying fires that have destroyed more than 10,000 homes and killed at least 25 people in Los Angeles County since January 7.

None of the arsons have been linked to any of the larger wildfires ravaging the county, according to Pamela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

“To anyone who believes they can use this disaster as a cover for criminal activity, let this be your warning: You will be arrested and you will be held accountable,” Hochman said in a statement. “The citizens of this county deserve safety and justice, especially after unprecedented devastation. »

The incidents occurred in Los Angeles, South Gate, Huntington Park, Hawthorne and Compton, officials said. On Jan. 13, prosecutors say Manuel Rodriguez, 35, started a fire in a dumpster behind the Donald Bruce Kaufman Library on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, just days after the neighborhood was threatened by a change management of the Palisades fire.

No one was injured in the ensuing arson attacks. Although there has been much speculation about the causes of the recent fires, investigators have only publicly discussed the possibility that the Kenneth Fire, near the Los Angeles-Ventura County border, was started intentionally. . In this case, Juan Sierra, 33, has been named a “person of interest” but charges have not yet been filed.

Hochman also announced a complaint Friday against Ivan Cedric Reed, 34, for posing as a firefighter to sneak into a Malibu evacuation zone. On Jan. 14, sheriff’s deputies found Reed wearing a “yellow firefighter’s jacket” and in possession of a “first responder radio” on Clifftop Way in Malibu, according to the prosecutor’s news release. Reed claimed to be a firefighter, but was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Reed was charged with receiving stolen property, impersonating a firefighter, illegal use of a badge and entering a closed disaster area.

The wave of charges for looting and arson is expected to continue, with local police announcing dozens of arrests for both crimes since the fire began. Hochman filed similar complaints against nine defendants on Monday.

Burglary suspects dressed as firefighters were also arrested in the Palisades fire evacuation zone on Jan. 12, and charges were presented to prosecutors against two men for posing as Los firefighters. Angeles and conspiring to commit burglary in that case, according to Chief of Detectives Alan Hamilton. for the Los Angeles Police Department.