12-Year Term for Panorama City Machinist : Man Pleads Guilty to Salon Arsons

A Panorama City machinist originally charged with setting fires that caused an estimated $1 million damage to 10 San Fernando Valley beauty salons and a swimming pool filter company pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of arson and one count of burglary.

Under the terms of the plea bargain with prosecutors, Rickey Jiminez will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert P. Imerman. Prosecutors will drop six additional counts of arson and five counts of burglary at the time of sentencing, Imerman said.

Had Jiminez been convicted of all 17 counts, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 13 years in prison, Imerman said.

Jiminez, 33, pleaded before Van Nuys Municipal Judge Robert H. Wallerstein, who scheduled sentencing Sept. 2 in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Jiminez told police he committed the burglaries to get money to finance his live-in girlfriend’s drug habit, Imerman said. Jiminez would not tell police why he set fires in some of the salons, but authorities said he was convicted in 1979 of arson in a fire at a San Fernando school.

The string of arsons and burglaries began in February, with most of them happening between April and June at beauty salons in North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Panorama City mini-malls.

Jiminez also was accused of setting a fire at the North Hollywood swimming-pool filter company and of burglarizing two vans.

Police said Jiminez apparently selected beauty salons because they were easy targets, with no alarm systems and fortifications, Imerman said.

Jiminez typically used crowbars to pry open the doors of the salons, then stole cash, radios and other small items, which he could sell, Imerman said.

Once inside the salons, Jiminez used materials on hand, such as nail polish remover, rags, paper towels and matches, to set the fires, Imerman said.

Just before a fire broke out at one salon, Jiminez was seen by a witness going across the street to a convenience store to get matches, Imerman said.

Jiminez was arrested in June by Los Angeles police as he rushed out the door of the California Nails salon in Van Nuys, where he had just set fire to a couch.

Police had put Jiminez under surveillance after an unnamed citizen reported that he had scared away a burglar from a nail salon in the Van Nuys area. The caller gave police the license number of the car in which the would-be burglar had sped away, police said.

The car was traced to Jiminez, whose previous arson conviction was noted, and a task force of detectives and arson investigators put Jiminez under surveillance during his days off, police said.

The night of his arrest, Jiminez had unsuccessfully tried to break into another beauty salon before breaking into California Nails, police said.

He is being held in County Jail pending sentencing.