The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A German man was being held without bail Tuesday in connection with dozens of suspected arson attacks in Los Angeles that destroyed parked cars, scorched buildings and rattled much of the city over the New Year’s weekend.
Harry Burkhart, 24, was booked Monday for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling, authorities said. Authorities said they didn’t know how long the German national has been in the United States. Police said he told arresting officers he’s from Frankfurt.
Burkhart was arrested because he resembled a “person of interest” captured on surveillance video. He was stopped by a reserve sheriff’s deputy in a van being sought by arson investigators, who did not rule out the possibility that others may be involved.
More than 50 fires have flared since Friday in Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, causing about $3 million in damage. Firefighters have not responded to any other suspicious fires since Burkhart was detained.
Police declined to reveal any motive for the fires. When asked at a news conference about reports that an immigration problem with Burkhart’s mother may have been a factor, authorities declined to comment.
“We are very confident in this arrest, but we have a long way to go,” said Police Chief Charlie Beck, who mentioned receiving information from federal authorities who recognized Burkhart from the video. They believed he had been involved in removal hearings in immigration court, but they didn’t specify how he was involved.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the German consulate general in Los Angeles was in contact with American authorities regarding the case, but declined to comment further on the matter.
Galina Illarionova, a neighbor of Burkhart, told reporters through a Russian translator that an agitated Burkhart visited her Sunday and said his mother was having some kind of legal trouble. He told her his mother was in trouble with authorities and wanted Illarionova to attend a legal hearing with him, but he later said he didn’t need her help.
Most of the fires began in cars, and authorities have not said how they were started.
The blazes forced many apartment dwellers from their homes. But there were no serious injuries _ one firefighter was hurt in a fall from a ladder, and another person suffered smoke inhalation.
One of Saturday’s fires occurred at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination bordered by the Walk of Fame in a neighborhood that includes Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Damaged buildings included a former home of the late Doors singer Jim Morrison in Laurel Canyon.
The onslaught of intentionally set fires left residents on edge over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city. Hundreds of investigators, police officers and firefighters raced to deal with the blazes. Police conducted extra patrols all weekend, and the noise of helicopters and sirens persisted virtually nonstop in Hollywood.
Even longtime firefighters struggled to recall an arson outbreak involving so many fires. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Division Chief James Lopez recalled a notorious case from a generation ago, when California arson investigator John Orr was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1984 killings of four people in one of multiple arsons he set over the course of years.
“Sometimes it’s pathological in nature,” Lopez said. “I think motives are going to be hard to come by. We may never know.”
Some other deliberately set fires were reported Thursday in Hollywood, and two people were arrested. But police said Monday that those suspects were not connected with the 52 other blazes.