Student Charged With Arson in Fire That Gutted Comic Book Store : Thousand Oaks: Prosecutor won’t try to prove that the suspect committed a hate crime during the Sept. 18 attack.
The Ventura County district attorney’s office Monday charged a 20-year-old Moorpark College student with arson in a fire that gutted a Thousand Oaks comic book store and damaged two other businesses.
But the prosecutor said Christopher D. Nagano will not be charged with a hate crime, even though the building’s walls were spray-painted with swastikas, the initials SS and the words Die Jew.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia M. Murphy also disclosed that investigators have obtained a videotape of the arson, apparently made by one of the people involved.
When Nagano was arrested last week, he was held on suspicion of arson and committing terrorist acts--the legal term for hate crimes. After reviewing the case Monday, however, Murphy said prosecutors “filed what we believe we can prove.â€
Since the Sept. 18 fire, sheriff’s investigators said they have been exploring a possible economic motive as well as the possibility that the crime was prompted by anti-Semitism.
In any case, investigators said Monday that they expect to make more arrests soon, and they said they have not ruled out possible involvement by store owner Myron Cohen-Ross.
Cohen-Ross has vehemently denied any involvement in the fire, and on Monday he said he was surprised that Nagano was charged only with arson.
“That doesn’t sound logical to me,†he said. “I would think that whoever was there was involved in the whole thing.â€
Sheriff’s Sgt. Kitty Hoberg said she also was surprised that the district attorney’s office did not file additional charges against Nagano.
“The D.A. apparently doesn’t believe there’s enough to prosecute him specifically with the actual spraying†of the Heroes and Legends store, Hoberg said. “We thought he was involved.â€
Nagano appeared briefly in Ventura County Municipal Court, but Judge Bruce A. Clark postponed his arraignment until Thursday at the request of Nagano’s attorney, Walter Matthews of Santa Barbara. A hearing will also be held then on a request by Matthews to have Nagano’s $500,000 bail reduced.
Nagano also has been charged with receiving stolen property in a case unrelated to the arson. Murphy said one of the two firearms that Nagano was carrying when he was arrested had been stolen.
In an interview outside the courtroom, Murphy said the videotape shows an unidentified figure setting fire to the Heroes and Legends comic book store.
The videotape lasts roughly eight minutes and was apparently shot by a person using a hand-held camera across the street as soon as the fire started. The tape also captured an unidentified voice, Murphy said.
“It’s obvious that it’s a videotape of the arson,†she said. She refused to disclose where the videotape was found, but said investigators have acknowledged that they searched Nagano’s home in Thousand Oaks after he was arrested at a friend’s house in Newbury Park.
Nagano’s mother, Zenaida Nagano, 58, said she and her husband visited her son in jail twice on Saturday.
“He’s not doing very good,†she said. “He’s crying a lot.â€
Cohen-Ross also expressed sympathy for Nagano, and said he is baffled that Nagano is suspected of setting the store on fire. Cohen-Ross said he has known Nagano for five years, ever since the suspect moved to Thousand Oaks from Minnesota, and he considered Nagano a friend.
“I’m sorry for Mr. Nagano,†he said. Cohen-Ross said he also hopes the videotape will prove that he was not involved setting the fire.
“Maybe it will show who did it so police can get to the bottom of it and finally leave me alone,†he said. “I do know that many arsons involve the owner. That’s why they’re looking at me still. I’d love for them to catch the people, because that would clear me totally.â€
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