Ill Suspect Faces 4 Felony Charges : Man Arrested in Raid After Arsons Held on Drug, Gun Counts

Four drug and weapons charges were filed Wednesday against a cancer-stricken Northridge man arrested last week in connection with the setting of two fires that destroyed a partly finished apartment project.

Robert Bruce Williams, 32, was not charged with setting the fires. Authorities are awaiting lab tests of evidence that could take weeks to complete.

The district attorney’s office charged Williams with the four felony narcotics and weapons counts stemming from a raid Friday on his Superior Street home by police and city fire investigators. Police arrested Williams immediately after the raid.

Prosecutors said the lab tests may determine whether several flammable liquids found during the raid match those used to start the fires.

$2.6 Million Damage

The fires, on Jan. 8 and 16, caused an estimated $2.6 million damage to the 114-unit apartment project at 17806 Kinzie St., officials said.

Williams’ arraignment was postponed Wednesday to allow him to receive chemotherapy treatments, said Nathan Snyder, a Los Angeles attorney who said he may be retained by Williams’ friends and family to represent Williams.

Williams, who has stomach cancer, was transferred Wednesday from County Jail to the County USC-Medical Center Jail Ward, where a deputy said his condition was stable.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Barshop said the charges against Williams are possession of marijuana and cocaine, possession of a silencer and possession of a destructive device near a place of habitation. The last charge refers to exploding bullets, apparently homemade, found in Williams’ room, Barshop said.

Bail was set at $68,500.

Bill Downey, one of Williams’ roommates, said friends and family hope to secure Williams’ release today.

Williams, a free-lance photographer, shares the house with three men. The silencer, bullets and five grams of cocaine were found in Williams’ bedroom and marijuana plants, found in pots in the backyard, were believed to be owned by Williams, Barshop said.

Claim of Incapacity

Williams’ friends claim that, because he recently had surgery to remove two tumors the 6-foot, 2-inch 280-pound man was incapable of scaling the six-foot-high concrete wall and chain-link fence that surrounds the apartment development.

A County-USC Medical Center spokesman confirmed that Williams was hospitalized from Dec. 9 to 14, but would provide no details.

City arson investigator Donald Brian said the fence and concrete barriers were erected after the first fire. He also said investigators had “received information from some sources” that Williams was capable of scaling the barriers at the time of the second fire.

Brian said laboratory analysis of the chemicals found in Williams’ room has been delayed because a Fire Department crime lab chemist recently retired. Until he is replaced, the Fire Department must use the Los Angeles Police Department crime lab. It could be two to six weeks before results are available, Brian said.

Authorities have not investigated whether Williams might be linked to six other arsons at condominium and apartment construction sites in Los Angeles and Glendale, Brian said.

Earlier this month, the Fire Department said it was attempting to determine whether the fires--all of which occurred at projects under construction--were related.

There have been 69 such fires in the past five years, Brian said.