D.A. Drops Charges in Ventura Boulevard Fire

Saying they might have accused the wrong man, prosecutors dropped charges Monday against a 40-year-old Studio City transient who had been suspected of setting a $2.5-million blaze in 1990 that wiped out several Ventura Boulevard stores.

However, John C. Kellogges, who was never tried in the case because a court found him to be mentally unfit, still faces arson charges in two other fires.

In recent months, police and Kellogges’ defense investigators have focused on the possibility that the spectacular Dec. 26, 1990, Ventura Boulevard blaze was set by Glendale Fire Capt. John L. Orr, who was convicted recently of setting a series of similar fires.

A crowd of post-Christmas shoppers fled into the street as the midday fires gutted or damaged eight stores, including Pier One Imports and Strouds Linen Warehouse, in the 12100 block of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

Kellogges, who was homeless and slept in alleys and yards in Studio City, was charged with eight counts of arson after witnesses told police they saw him near the burning stores. Officers said his clothes smelled of smoke when he was arrested the day after the fire.

Police later charged Kellogges with setting two earlier fires in abandoned businesses in Studio City, the Fruitland Motel and Danny’s Apple, a former restaurant.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman said he dropped the charges in the Ventura Boulevard fires because “we are no longer sure that he did it, although we are certain he was in the vicinity.”

Richman said he plans to prosecute Kellogges for the two earlier fires if he is ruled mentally fit to stand trial.

At a preliminary hearing in February, 1991, a judge found sufficient evidence to order Kellogges to stand trial on 10 counts of arson. But he was not tried because another judge ruled him mentally incompetent.

Kellogges’ mental status will be reviewed at a hearing Oct. 20 in San Fernando Superior Court.

Deputy Public Defender Thom Tibor said Monday: “For nearly two years I’ve been telling everyone they got the wrong man. At last, the prosecutors agreed.”

Tibor said that had the case gone to trial, he would have introduced evidence that the method used to set the Ventura Boulevard fires was “very similar to the methods used in fires for which Mr. Orr was convicted.”

Orr, Glendale’s chief fire investigator, was convicted July 31 of setting fires in Tulare and Bakersfield while driving home from an arson investigators conference in Fresno. He faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 19.

Orr also faces trial on similar charges in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties in connection with fires over the past three years.

Tibor noted that the fires Orr was convicted of setting were in fabric stores and that matches and paper were used for ignition--as in the Ventura Boulevard fires.

Regarding the Danny’s Apple fire, Tibor said a prosecution witness who identified Kellogges at the scene had already seen the defendant’s picture in a newspaper, “so that ID is tainted.”

He said that his client admits setting the fire that did minor damage to the closed Fruitland Motel.

“He was staying in one of the rooms there and he lit some papers to keep warm. It was an accident, not arson,” Tibor said.

If convicted of the two remaining counts, Kellogges could be sentenced to six years, eight months in prison, Richman said.