Tip from federal officials was big break in L.A. fires

By artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 11:32pm |

By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, Jan 2, 2012

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the key break in the L.A. serial arson investigation came Saturday night when federal officials recognized a "person of interest" in the fires.

That night, officials had distributed a video of a man walking near a car fire at the Hollywood & Highland Center parking structure. Beck said unnamed federal officials recognized the man and gave police information about him. [....] No new arsons have been reported since Burkhart was taken into custody, but police stressed that the investigation was ongoing.

[....] Burkhart appears to have been battling the U.S. government over the immigration status of his mother. The Los Angeles Police Department is in communication with federal immigration officials concerning the dispute, the law enforcement sources said. [....]

URL:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/tip-from-federal-officials.html

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Updated and developed:

State Dept. tip leads to arson suspect

By Richard Winton, Ari Bloomekatz and Joe Mozingo, Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2012

Harry Burkhart, a German national, is arrested by a reserve deputy after authorities received word about a man who erupted in a tirade in Immigration Court. The fires caused about $3 million damage.

[....] Hours before the fires began, U.S. State Department officials had alerted authorities to a Los Angeles man connected to arsons in Germany, according to law enforcement sources. The man had recently made a scene at a Los Angeles Immigration Court hearing and looked much like a "person of interest" caught earlier on a surveillance tape in a Hollywood parking structure. [....]

by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2012 - 11:53pm

Stranger than most LA fiction: Mom was in court Tuesday (having been arrested Thurs, before the fires started) because Germany wants her for stiffing on a down payment for breast enlargement surgery. In court, even though she didn't know her son was arrested Monday, she was ranting about him, demanding to know where he was, saying he was nuts, and suggesting "those German Nazis" must have gotten their address:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/la-arson-suspect-is-mental...

by artappraiser on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 8:36pm

Tip from federal officials was big break in L.A. fires

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