Two males have been charged with felony arson in Los Angeles in unrelated instances as authorities fight firebugs, looters and a number of raging blazes in Southern California.
The incidents occurred in numerous elements of Los Angeles County over the weekend, in keeping with the district legal professional’s workplace.
Jaime Mota, 37, was held on $350,000 bail for allegedly lighting a stack of wood pallets on hearth behind a delivery yard within the Metropolis of Trade Saturday afternoon. The flames unfold to a tractor-trailer and a few surrounding bushes, in keeping with authorities. He might get seven years in jail if convicted.
Firefighters work the scene as an house constructing burns throughout the Eaton hearth within the Altadena space of Los Angeles County, California on January 8, 2025. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP through Getty Photographs)
In Irwindale, 27-year-old Ruben Michael Montes is being held on $400,000 bail for allegedly lighting a hearth beneath the Interstate 605 overpass at Rivergrade Highway. He was already on probation on the time of the incident and faces as much as 14 years in jail if convicted.
“We owe it to the victims of those fires, in addition to the courageous first responders risking their lives, to make sure justice is served,” District Lawyer Nathan Hochman mentioned in an announcement. “Let this be a message to anybody considering related acts — you’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the legislation.”
Firefighters battle the flames from the Palisades Fireplace burning the Theatre Palisades throughout a robust windstorm on January 8, 2025 within the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Photographs)
He famous that his division had additionally just lately charged 10 others with looting or arson and mentioned he would proceed to crack down on crime.
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“The folks of Los Angeles County are enduring unprecedented hardship as wildfires ravage our communities, displacing households, destroying houses, and tragically claiming lives,” Hochman mentioned.
“Whereas first responders and residents work tirelessly to save lots of lives and property, we is not going to tolerate people who exploit this tragedy by committing heinous acts of arson or looting. My Workplace continues to place relentless strain on those that threaten the protection and safety of our county.”
A helicopter makes a drop as smoke billows from the Palisades Fireplace within the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S. January 11, 2025. (REUTERS/Daniel Dreifuss )
On Tuesday, Hochman and District Lawyer Todd Spitzer, of the neighboring Orange County, teamed as much as ask Gov. Gavin Newsom to make looting a felony.
Arson assaults have sparked the curiosity of legislation enforcement and common residents alike.
Nathan Hochman on the Los Angeles District Lawyer candidates discussion board at Pacific Palms Resort earlier than profitable election to workplace in November. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Instances through Getty Photographs)
Final week, “Chicago Fireplace” actor Brian J. White took the battle to the actual world when he and a gaggle of neighbors performed a citizen’s arrest on an unlawful immigrant marching by means of their neighborhood with a blowtorch.
And on Monday, Hochman’s workplace introduced fees in opposition to a homeless man in Azusa after neighbors noticed him mild a brush hearth in a park close to their houses. They confronted him verbally till a close-by Azusa police officer arrived and positioned him in handcuffs on the scene.
Azusa police have arrested 39-year-old homeless arson suspect Jose Carranza-Escobar simply steps from a small brush hearth that they are saying he admitted to lighting as Los Angeles battles a number of giant wildfires. (Obtained by Fox Information Digital)
“Azusa PD urges everybody to stay alert as fires proceed to have an effect on the county,” Azusa Capt. Rob Landeros mentioned in an announcement over the weekend. “We have to be cautious of people who could enter our neighborhood with the intent to begin fires.”
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Flames from the Palisades Fireplace burn a constructing on Sundown Boulevard amid a robust windstorm on January 8, 2025 within the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Photographs)
Firefighters rapidly put that fireside out, in keeping with authorities.
In one other unrelated arson, Jim McDonnell advised the native ABC affiliate that one of many suspected arsonists advised police he “preferred the odor of burning leaves.”
A number of wildfires in Los Angeles have killed at the least 24 folks over the previous week, and the quantity is predicted to rise.
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