LOS ANGELES : Not Guilty Plea Entered in Garment District Fires
An Arleta man suspected of setting more than 350 fires in the Los Angeles garment district pleaded not guilty Monday to 10 felony counts of arson.
Victor Manuel Gomez, 38, was ordered to return to Los Angeles Municipal Court on April 6 for a preliminary hearing. The ex-garment district worker remains in custody.
The charges against Gomez involve the most recent blazes set in the Los Angeles garment district, although Los Angeles Fire Department and federal investigators believe he is responsible for several hundred.
Officials believe Gomez is the serial arsonist that a task force of federal and local agents has been targeting for three years.
The task force was formed after investigators noticed that many of the garment district fires were set the same way--with a match-ignited scrap of cloth or paper left near a door--so the culprit would have an easy escape.
Gomez was captured March 14 after the manager of a garment district building recognized him from a photo distributed by the task force.
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