THOUSAND OAKS : Man Implicates 2 Others in Arson Case

A Newbury Park man who was arrested and later released in the arson of a Thousand Oaks comic-book store implicated two acquaintances in the crime, according to a grand jury transcript released Wednesday.

Christopher David Nagano, 20, told friends that store owner Myron Cohen-Ross hired the two men to start a fire at the Heroes and Legends store on Thousand Oaks Boulevard on Sept. 18, the grand jury was told.

The new information was contained in the transcript of a three-day grand jury hearing in December, during which prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to have Nagano indicted for arson. Three people testified that Nagano told them that he was consulted by one of the two men on the best way to commit the arson.

They said Nagano recommended using a Molotov cocktail and painting anti-Semitic slogans at the site so police would believe that it was a hate crime. The real motive for the arson, witnesses said Nagano told them, was so Cohen-Ross could collect insurance money.

Nagano said he was to be paid $1,000 from the insurance money, the witnesses said. Cohen-Ross has denied the allegations against him.

During the hearing, he repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination as he refused to answer any questions related to his financial status at the time of the fire, saying he was following his attorney’s advice.

Prosecutors refused to comment on the two men, except to say they are friends of Nagano. Prosecutors said the case remains under investigation.

One of the witnesses at the grand jury hearing was Racardo Rey Lopez, who said he videotaped the arson. Lopez testified that Nagano asked him to do it so he would have something to “hold over” one of the two men if future business dealings with him “went sour.”

Lopez said he hid in a tree about 50 to 75 yards from the store so the arsonist could not see that he was taping their activities. The tape shows a person throwing a Molotov cocktail into the store, but sheriff’s officials have said they cannot identify the person.

All the witnesses at the hearing, including Lopez, said they cannot tell from the tape who started the blaze.

Sheriff’s detectives were given the tape when Nagano left it with a friend to keep while he went out of state, the transcript said. Unbeknown to Nagano, his friend’s stepbrother was a sheriff’s informant on the case and notified detectives that he had the tape.

Police were watching the tape when Nagano showed up at the friend’s house, the transcript says. He was arrested at that time, but was later released after the grand jury refused to indict him.