Suspect in Setting of 12,000-Acre Blaze Charged

A 41-year-old Covina man has been charged with arson in connection with a 12,000-acre brush fire last week in the San Gabriel Mountains near Lytle Creek, authorities said Tuesday.

James L. Lonczak, who was arrested at his apartment in Covina on Sunday, is believed to have intentionally set 24 wild-land fires in the same area since July 9, said Ron Huxman, a special agent with the U.S. Forest Service, at a press conference.

‘Skilled Craftsman’

Lonczak, who was described as a “skilled craftsman” employed at a Christian humanitarian organization called World Vision in Monrovia, was being held without bail at the Terminal Island Federal Prison in Long Beach, Huxman said.

The arrest by the U.S. Forest Service followed a three-month joint investigation by the U.S. Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry. The probe was prompted by a resident who reported seeing Lonczak’s black Nissan pickup truck in the vicinity of a brush fire started July 9, Huxman said.

Arson investigators subsequently placed Lonczak under surveillance and “gathered enough information to link him to the (24) fires,” Huxman said. “It seems as though he improved as the summer went on, unfortunately.”

The 12,000-acre fire broke out last Wednesday at the mouth of Duncan Canyon near Lytle Creek and destroyed a large ranch house and two outbuildings, with losses estimated at $350,000, authorities said. However, costs associated with fighting the fire, which involved more than 1,100 firefighters, totaled more than $2.2 million, authorities said.

“I think we have an exceptional case--a perfect case,” Huxman said.

However, he declined to provide details about evidence gathered in the case.

‘Simple Process’

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Walsh said in a telephone interview that a “very simple process” was used to set the fires.

“There were no elaborate devices involved,” Walsh said.

Walsh said Lonczak has been charged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with one count of arson on federal lands, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A preliminary hearing hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 18.