Decision Delayed on Filing Charges Against Suspect Held in Arson Case

Prosecutors have not decided whether charges will be filed against a 32-year-old Northridge man arrested in connection with two arson fires at an apartment project under construction near his home, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Barshop said Monday.

But, Barshop said, flammable liquids were found Friday by police and city fire investigators who broke down the door of the home that the suspect, Robert Bruce Williams, shares with three other men.

Williams, who officials confirmed Monday has been diagnosed as having cancer, was arrested Friday on suspicion of arson, possession of narcotics and possession of illegal weapons. He is being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail.

Barshop said investigators are awaiting the results of laboratory tests that will determine whether the materials found in Williams’ Superior Street home match those used to start fires Jan. 8 and Jan. 16 at the 114-unit project a block away at 17806 Kinzie St. The fires caused an estimated $2.6 million in damage. A city fire captain was seriously injured in the second fire.

Guns Found, Officials Say

Friday’s search also turned up an undisclosed amount of marijuana and cocaine and a large collection of guns, including at least one weapon with what appeared to be a silencer, fire officials said.

Barshop said the decision on how to proceed with the case will be made by Thursday. A suspect can be held without charges for only two working days after he is arrested. Because of a three-day weekend, today is counted as the first working day since Williams’ arrest.

“I have no idea what charges will be filed. I’m not sure whether there will be a filing or not,” Barshop said.

Friends of the arrested man continued to insist Monday that Williams is innocent of the arson allegations.

“I can’t possibly conceive of it,” said Williams’ roommate, Bill Downey, a private contractor. “You’ve got the wrong person.”

Downey said Williams, a free-lance photographer and former security guard, underwent surgery about three weeks ago to remove two tumors and receives chemotherapy treatments. He has a scar running from his groin to his stomach, Downey said, and would have been too weak to scale the six-foot-high concrete wall and chain-link fence barrier that surrounds the apartment complex.

‘He Could Hardly Move’

“In order to get off the couch, he had to roll to his hands and knees,” Downey said. Downey said he believed police also “realized they had the wrong guy when they got him out of the house and he could hardly move.”

To the statements of some neighbors that they saw Williams walking to the scene of the fires, Downey replied, “He walked very slowly.”

Downey said the flammable liquids found in the house were chemicals used by Williams to develop photographs and make jewelry and etchings. Others living at the home also have construction jobs and use flammable chemicals and solvents, Downey said.

Of the drugs allegedly found in the house, Downey said, “What about them? I understand almost everybody on chemotherapy smokes marijuana. A lot of people use coke. A lot of people smoke pot.”

Downey and other friends of Williams said the confiscated guns were collector’s items. They denied knowing of a silencer in the house.

Investigators said Friday they are searching for possible links between Williams and seven other fires at condominium and apartment construction sites in Los Angeles and Glendale in the last year.