Bonita
A Carlsbad chiropractor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to setting a fire at a Bonita store on which swastikas were spray-painted before the business was torched.
Douglas Wofford, 41, was ordered held in County Jail in lieu of $250,000.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Lamborn said Wofford “was caught literally in the act of setting a fire at a store in Bonita.”
After his arrest Friday by a passing sheriff’s deputy, Wofford told the deputy that the Iraqi store owner was “evil,” Lamborn said in the courtroom of Municipal Court Judge John Thompson.
The prosecutor said Wofford told the deputy: “I’m not your average arsonist. There’s more than meets the eye. I had a reason for doing this.”
Lamborn said the remarks were made while Wofford was being taken to jail after his arrest near the Bonita Market.
A flammable liquid had been poured inside the store on newspapers piled up at the entrance and ignited, according to Lamborn. Damage to the store and a neighboring Catholic church was $200,000.
Thompson set a bail review for Friday and a preliminary hearing for Aug. 7.
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