Local news in Brief : Arsonist Given 11 Years for Salon Fires
A Panorama City machinist who pleaded guilty to setting a string of fires at San Fernando Valley beauty and nail salons was sentenced Friday to 11 years in state prison.
Rickey Jiminez, 33, “has engaged in a pattern of violent conduct and is a danger to society,” Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber said at the sentencing.
Jiminez was charged with setting fires that caused an estimated $1 million in damage to 10 San Fernando Valley salons, some of which he burglarized, and a swimming pool filter company.
A plea bargain with prosecutors called for Jiminez to be sentenced to 12 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to five counts of arson and one count of burglary. But Haber said the law allows only an 11-year sentence for the offenses, which began in February and ended in June when Jiminez was arrested as he left a nail salon in Van Nuys.
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