STUDIO CITY : Man Admits to Torching 3 Hair Salons in Anger
A Studio City man admitted in court Wednesday that he torched three Ventura Boulevard hair salons, apparently out of anger about haircuts he got at the shops.
Jacob Mandel, 19, pleaded no contest to setting fire to the shops in Encino and Tarzana, causing about $3.5 million in damage. As part of a plea bargain in Van Nuys Superior Court, Mandel was placed on probation for five years and ordered to spend four more months at a locked psychiatric facility that he entered shortly after his arrest June 12.
Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann also ordered Mandel to make restitution to the shop owners if possible, although Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Schuit said there was no evidence that the defendant had money to make amends.
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