Police Chief’s Son Admits He Caused Big Fire

Saying he was intoxicated on beer and marijuana at the time, the 19-year-old son of the Cypress police chief pleaded guilty Tuesday to setting a 5,000-acre fire Sept. 9 in Cleveland National Forest.

U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman told Robert Edward Lowenberg that he faces a minimum of one year and a maximum of 10 years in prison, plus a possible $250,000 fine, when he is sentenced on Jan. 11.

“Me and my friend, Robert Tafoya, went to Silverado Canyon,” Lowenberg told the judge. “We went up there to have a good time.”

He said he first set a fire in a trash bag tied to a tree but added: “It fell to the ground, and I thought the fire was out.”

He and Tafoya then drove away, Lowenberg said, and stopped about 2 1/2 miles down the road to urinate.

“That’s where I lit a little bush on fire, and, of course, all the bushes around there caught on fire,” Lowenberg said, adding that he set the fires with a cigarette lighter.

It took 1,100 firefighters nearly two weeks to control the fire, at a cost of about $2.2 million, according to court records. At least seven firefighters were injured.

Lowenberg’s parents, Ronald and Kitty Lowenberg, sat together in the back of the courtroom Tuesday, looking pained as their son, the oldest of their six children, entered his plea.

He pleaded guilty to one count of willfully destroying government property. Two other charges were dismissed under a plea bargain with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Neither Lowenberg nor his parents would comment on why he decided to plead guilty. Lowenberg’s attorney, Anna Ho, also refused comment as she left the courtroom after the brief hearing.

“I think that the plea agreement was just,” Asst. U.S. Atty. Ronni MacLaren said. “He must serve a mandatory minimum of one year without probation. If he commits the same offense again, he would be sentenced to five years.”

MacLaren said Ideman could also order Lowenberg to pay restitution for the costs of fighting the fire. She said Tafoya will not be prosecuted because “he did not commit the offense.”

Tafoya, the 18-year-old son of a Los Angeles Juvenile Court referee, was Lowenberg’s best friend, according to friends and associates. Tafoya was scheduled to testify as a government witness if Lowenberg’s case had gone to trial, MacLaren said.

Lowenberg and Tafoya were the first ones to report the fires, according to Tommy LaNier, a U.S. Forest Service special agent who investigated the arson. He said the two men probably called to report the fire because they became frightened as the blaze began spreading through dry brush.

“I’m very pleased with the way the U.S. attorney’s office handled the case,” LaNier said. “We felt we had a very good case. It will be interesting to see what the judge does.”

LaNier said it is difficult to say whether Lowenberg fits the profile of an arsonist, or whether he set the fires only because he was intoxicated.

“Generally, an arsonist is an individual who sets fires because he enjoys watching them burn,” LaNier said.

Friends and neighbors described Lowenberg as an All-American boy who served as a Catholic altar boy and played football at Rancho Alamitos High School before dropping out in his senior year. After attending adult education classes to earn his high school diploma, Lowenberg worked as a sales clerk in a Garden Grove electronics store.

He was at work when federal officials arrested him Sept. 18.

Lowenberg spent nearly two weeks in Terminal Island federal prison before his parents bailed him out and agreed to allow him to return home in their custody. After his son’s bail hearing, Chief Lowenberg said: “He’ll have to reconcile with himself and God.”