GLENDALE : Retailer Sues Fire Captain, City in Store Arson Case

A Glendale retailer has sued Fire Capt. John Orr and the city of Glendale, charging that Orr set incendiary devices in his store while allegedly conducting a fire inspection.

In a complaint filed this week in Glendale Superior Court, John Thorn, owner of Glendale Spa City Inc., said that his business was gutted by fire Feb. 22, 1991, the same day that Orr, Glendale’s chief arson investigator, conducted an hourlong inspection of the site.

Thorn said he never suspected that Orr was involved in the fire until last December, when a grand jury indicted Orr on five counts of arson and three counts of attempted arson for allegedly setting fires in eight stores around Los Angeles County over the last three years.

In a separate case, Orr is also charged with setting five fires in the San Joaguin Valley in 1987. His trial on those charges is scheduled in Fresno next week. Thorn is seeking unspecified damages for the loss of his business, which has not reopened.