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News Feb 01, 2018
Image used for illustration only. - Courtesy photo / Mtlfiredude GFDL (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Image used for illustration only. – Courtesy photo / Mtlfiredude GFDL (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A La Puente man was charged Monday with setting fires at multiple houses of worship, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Christian Michael Garcia faces 20 felony counts: 13 counts of vandalism of religious property; three counts of arson of a structure; two counts of second-degree commercial burglary; and one count each of attempted second-degree robbery and arson of property of another.
Case BA465045 also charges Garcia with two misdemeanor counts of vandalism under $400 and includes hate crime allegations.
Arraignment was scheduled Monday and continued to Feb. 26 in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
The felony complaint charges Garcia with vandalism and arson fires between Nov. 25, 2016 and Jan. 25, 2018. A total of four churches located in Pasadena and Los Angeles are named in the charging document.
The defendant also is charged with vandalizing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Industry Station.
Bail is set at $750,000. If convicted as charged, the defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of more than 23 years in state prison.
Deputy District Attorneys Joy Roberts and Holly Harpham are the assigned prosecutors.
The case remains under investigation by the Inter-Agency House of Worship Task Force which includes members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department, Pasadena Fire Department, Pasadena Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
