Suspect in Youth Center Arson Pleads Not Guilty

A Santa Ana man accused of torching a youth center where he was a director and the bedroom of a former girlfriend pleaded innocent Friday to charges of attempted murder and arson, authorities said.

Authorities allege that Charles H. Smith, 41, set an early morning blaze in 1989 that destroyed the front office of the Amparo Youth Shelter, to seek revenge for being fired as program director six months earlier for alleged misconduct, said Garden Grove Fire Department Capt. Bill Dumas.

Dumas said Smith was a suspect after that Amparo fire based on information from witnesses, but at that time “I pretty much did not have the evidence I needed to file charges against him.”

Smith is also charged with tossing two firebombs through a bedroom window of 27-year-old Karen Keup of Costa Mesa in September, 1991. Smith and Keup, a former Amparo employee, had dated for about two years, and Keup had broken off their relationship about a year earlier, according to fire investigators and Keup’s mother, Mary. During that year, Smith said he wanted to continue seeing Keup, but she spurned his advances, Dumas said.

Following the second fire, Costa Mesa police investigators contacted the Garden Grove Fire Department because Keup said she thought Smith started it, Dumas said.

Smith was a teacher at Orange County Juvenile Hall since July, 1990, said Dick Nagle, director of personnel for the Orange County Department of Education. The Orange County Probation Department, which runs the Juvenile Hall, heard from investigators that Smith was an arson suspect and placed Smith on administrative leave in early November, 1991, pending the outcome of those charges, Nagle said.

Smith, who was arrested Thursday morning at his home without incident, is held without bail in Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, Dumas said.

He is charged with two counts of arson and one count of attempted murder. He faces possible life in prison with the possibility of parole after seven years, said Assistant Dist. Atty. Jim Tanizaki.

A preliminary hearing for Smith is scheduled for Jan. 6, Tanizaki said.