Man Once Charged in Fire Receives Probation in Theft Case : Crime: He is convicted of possessing stolen property. The charge is unrelated to a Thousand Oaks store blaze.

A Newbury Park man once charged with the arson of a Thousand Oaks comic-book store was placed on probation Friday for an unrelated felony conviction of possessing stolen property.

Christopher David Nagano, 21, will not have to spend any more time in jail if he obeys the terms of his probation for the next three years, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele said.

Nagano spent 31 days in custody after his arrest in November.

He initially was arrested on suspicion of arson in the Sept. 18 fire at the Heroes and Legends store on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Prosecutors filed an arson charge but the case was dismissed after the county grand jury refused to indict him.

Witnesses testified before the grand jury that Nagano told them he was consulted on the best way to commit the arson after store owner Myron Cohen-Ross hired two men to start the fire.

Cohen-Ross has denied involvement, and an investigator said Friday the case has not advanced since the grand jury hearing.

“We’ve not come up with any new leads,� said Sgt. Kitty Hoberg of the East Valley Sheriff’s Station. “It’s kind of at a stalemate until something new comes up.�

In the other criminal case against him, Nagano was charged with possessing a gun that had been stolen from an Agoura Hills shooting range he frequented, and possession of a machine gun. He pleaded guilty in February to possessing stolen property after being promised by the judge that he would be placed on probation rather than sent to prison.

At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Nagano testified he did not know the gun was stolen when he agreed to keep it for a friend who was being questioned by police about the arson. Defense attorney Louis B. Samonsky said he advised Nagano to plead guilty to the charge to induce prosecutors to dismiss the more serious machine-gun count.

Nagano did not have a machine-gun in his possession, but rather five of the six trigger parts needed to convert a rifle to an automatic weapon, investigators said.

Since the law is unclear whether that is the same as possessing a machine-gun, Samonsky said he did not want to take a chance and let Nagano go to trial on the charge.

Nagano’s family agreed to the guilty plea, in part to spare the expense of a trial, Samonsky said.

“The Nagano family is broke,� Samonsky told the judge. “This ordeal has completely crushed them financially.�

The defense attorney asked Steele to place Nagano on unsupervised probation, but the judge denied the request and ordered the defendant to report regularly to a probation officer.

Steele, however, said he will consider at a future date a defense request to reduce the felony charge to a misdemeanor.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Vanarelli argued unsuccessfully for the 120-day jail sentence recommended in the probation report.