Woman Convicted of Attempted Arson

A 51-year-old woman who has lived in her car with her cat in the Simi Valley area for two years was convicted of attempted arson Tuesday for trying to burn down the home of her former boss.

Carole Lynne Alberts was found guilty of two counts of attempted arson and one count of making terrorist threats after she tried to light a blanket on fire that she had put against the wall of Suzanne Schaefer’s home, Deputy Dist. Atty. John Vanarelli said.

Schaefer had hired Alberts for a job at a McDonald’s restaurant in Simi Valley in March but soon asked Alberts to voluntarily quit.

“She worked several shifts and it really wasn’t working out,” Vanarelli said.

When asked to leave the restaurant, Alberts became angry and threatened to burn Schaefer’s house, prosecutors said.

Alberts made good on the threats March 17, when she twice attempted to burn the home, located in the 1800 block of Wallace Street in Simi Valley, Vanarelli said.

In his closing statement, Deputy Public Defender Douglas W. Daily said he doubted the victim could definitively say it was Alberts she saw running from the back yard after the attempted arson.

“Given the tremendous emotional impacts . . . I question (Schaefer’s) ability to discern who that individual was,” Daily said.

But Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath disagreed, rendering a guilty verdict even before Vanarelli could rebut Daily’s closing statement. She faces up to 5 1/2 years in prison when she is sentenced on Aug. 17.