Machinist Held in 13 Beauty Salon Arsons, 25 Burglaries

A Panorama City machinist, suspected in a string of 13 arsons and 25 burglaries at beauty salons in the San Fernando Valley since February, was arrested as he came out of a burning nail salon early Thursday, authorities said.

Ricky Jimenez, 33, who was convicted in 1979 of an arson fire at a San Fernando school, was arrested about 1 a.m. after he set fire to a couch inside a Van Nuys nail shop, authorities said.

A team of police detectives and arson investigators who had been watching Jimenez during the last week rushed into the California Nails salon when they saw flames and captured Jimenez as he headed out the door, said Battalion Chief Gary Bowie, head of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s arson unit. Damage to the shop in the 7300 block of Van Nuys Boulevard was estimated at $4,000.

“We were hoping to catch him in the act,” Bowie said. “This will make it a lot easier for us. It ties it up very well for prosecution.”

Jimenez is being held at the Van Nuys jail in lieu of $2-million bail.

The crimes began Feb. 18 and caused more than $1 million in damage, Fire Inspector Ed Reed said.

Shops ‘an Easy Hit’

During the investigation, authorities had theorized that the fires might have been prompted by “racial motivation (because some of the business owners are Asian) or competition or extortion,” Reed said. “But none of that was a factor. We believe it is burglary and cover-up arson.”

Los Angeles Police Detective Robert Uber, who coordinated the surveillance of Jimenez after he was identified as a suspect, said Jimenez admitted burglarizing a series of beauty shops but said little about the arson cases. Why he targeted nail and hair salons was not entirely clear, the detective said.

“He basically says they were an easy hit,” Uber said. “He went for petty cash.

“We don’t really know why he set fires in only some of them. He has talked to us about the burglaries, but he is very apprehensive about talking about the arsons.”

Uber said Jimenez got very little money.

“I would venture to guess he got less than $500 total,” Uber said.

Break Came May 30

The fires in the 13 shops, most located in Van Nuys, Panorama City and Sepulveda, occurred on five different mornings. During the same period, burglary detectives were tracking a string of burglaries in the same type of businesses.

“We had a pretty good idea that the burglaries and arsons were connected,” Uber said.

Uber said the break on the case came on the morning of May 30 when an unnamed citizen called police and reported that he had scared a burglar away from a nail salon in the Van Nuys area. The caller provided police with the license plate number of the car in which the the would-be burglar sped away.

Uber said the car was eventually traced to Jimenez, who investigators learned had a previous arson conviction and other arrests. Beginning last week, a task force of 15 detectives and arson investigators placed Jimenez under surveillance on his days off, he said.

On Wednesday night, Jimenez unsuccessfully tried to break into another beauty shop before breaking into California Nails, Uber said.