Bail Set at $400,000 in Arson-Fraud Case

A U. S. magistrate in Los Angeles on Friday set bail at $400,000 for Robert Feldman, an Agoura Hills businessman accused of orchestrating a complex $2.6-million arson insurance fraud involving a 1982 fire at his Sun Valley plant.

Government prosecutors had requested that Magistrate John R. Kronenberg order Feldman held without bail. Feldman’s attorney argued that the amount was too much for a client he described as having “financial difficulties”

Feldman, 55, a wiry man with a narrow face and curly hair, sat quietly through the hourlong hearing in Federal District Court. Feldman has been held at Terminal Island since his arrest Monday after an 18-count indictment against him was returned by a federal grand jury Sept. 12 in Los Angeles.

Solvents Allegedly Ordered

The indictment alleges that Feldman arranged to have the Sun Valley plant of his Grow Gear Inc., which made aircraft parts, burned down on Jan. 30, 1982, in order to collect on a $2.6-million insurance policy. Other counts involve alleged efforts to illegally conceal the insurance money as well as large sums owed to creditors. The indictment charges that Feldman ordered six 55-gallon drums of solvents used to set the 20,000-square-foot plant on fire.

If convicted on all counts, each a felony, Feldman could receive a maximum sentence of 92 years in prison and $30,000 in fines. A. Brent Carruth, the Van Nuys attorney representing Feldman, said in an interview Friday that the charges against his client are composed of mere “innuendoes and rumors.”

“These people have been harassing my client for three years,” he added. The Feldman investigation has lasted three years, according to prosecutors.

At the hearing, Assistant U. S. Atty. Richard Callahan argued that Feldman should be detained without bail because past incidents suggested that he might intimidate witnesses. Callahan also argued that five arson fires at three Feldman-owned businesses in the last 12 years indicated that the Grow Gear blaze was part of a pattern the suspect might repeat. Testimony on these points came from Bill Keeler, an arson investigator with the Los Angeles Fire Department who has been working on the Feldman case.

Son’s Condition Cited

Carruth told Kronenberg that there was no evidence that Feldman would skip bail or intimidate witnesses. He told the magistrate that Feldman’s 19-year-old son, one of his four children, suffers from cerebral palsy and could turn suicidal if Feldman remained in jail. Kronenberg first set the bail at $500,000, then reduced it by $100,000 after Carruth told him Feldman did not have the money. However, Carruth said late Friday that Feldman would remain in jail at least over the weekend because of his inability to post a 10% bond for the $400,000.