1 Held in Anaheim Hills Arson : Crime: A 17-year-old youth who told officials he was ‘just screwing around’ is jailed on suspicion of recklessly causing fire. Two others are arrested but later released.

A 17-year-old Anaheim youth who told investigators that he was “just screwing around” was arrested and jailed Monday for allegedly setting a fire that damaged 29 homes in the Anaheim Hills area at the outset of last month’s wave of wildfires, officials said.

Authorities also arrested two other youths who were with the 17-year-old at a local hillside hangout when the fire was set Oct. 26, but they were released after authorities concluded that they were apparently bystanders and not accomplices.

The names of those detained by Anaheim police and fire department investigators were not immediately disclosed, but the City of Anaheim announced plans for an 11 a.m. press conference today.

Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler said he understood that the youths were “just kids trying to have a good time” when things “got out of hand.”

Pickler was gratified that the arrests had come quickly. “I think it’s important (for people) to know that we can apprehend these people who start fires and put them away,” he said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly commented that the fire was “an irresponsible act and the person or persons involved must beheld accountable, either financially or criminally or both. It’s a shame so much public money has been spent and will continue to be spent on such mindless behavior.”

Jan Wooley, whose house was one of two destroyed in the fire, heard news of the arrest on the radio Monday.

“I suppose it satisfies a little curiosity,” Wooley said. “I really didn’t have much hope that they would ever be caught.”

The arrest came only hours after the arraignment in Los Angeles federal court of the so-called “Fedbuster,” a Van Nuys man who wrote threatening letters to 36 individuals and law enforcement agencies.

Thomas Lee Larsen, 43, was not charged with arson, but sealed court documents obtained by The Times and sources familiar with the case indicate that he is a suspect in several fires that ripped across the region during the past two weeks, taking three lives, destroying more than 1,100 structures, burning more than 200,000 acres and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

One law enforcement officer familiar with Monday’s arrests in Anaheim said the 17-year-old who remained in detention claimed that he merely “dropped a match” after lighting a cigarette. “But you can’t light a match in a 50-mile-an-hour wind, let alone drop it.”

Although they do not believe the youth’s version of how the blaze started, one officer said the youth was not held on suspicion of deliberately setting the fire, but on the lesser crime of recklessly causing fire.

“I’m not sure he realized the gravity of what he was doing at the time,” the officer said. “To tell you the truth, he didn’t seem like that bad of a kid. I don’t know what was going through his head. I’ve seen worse.”

Although there were “quite a few” other youths with him at the time, “none of them came forward,” the officer said. “They didn’t want to narc on their friend.”

Arson investigators learned the identities of the youngsters and began questioning them after an adult, who learned of the fire’s origins from one of those involved, came forward and reported to an arson task force formed by the county the wake of the devastating fires.

“Usually, arsonists work alone,” the officer said. “We were fortunate that this one didn’t.”

The arrests came just as Anaheim’s four-member arson team was preparing to tackle the daunting chore of tracking down the owners of 4,500 Pontiac Fieros--the type of vehicle believed to have been seen fleeing the fire’s flash point.

That would have proved a colossal waste of time, the officer said, because it turned out that the 17-year-old was there in a black Honda CRX.

“When I came to work today,” said arson investigator Ray McLaughlin, “that’s what I was prepared to do--start working my way down the list of 4,500 Fiero owners” the department had secured from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

One of the first of the 26 devastating wildfires that cut across Southern California over the past two weeks, the Anaheim Hills blaze broke out about 11 p.m. along Stage Coach Road, near the border of Villa Park and Orange.

The flames hopscotched down a ridge of desert-dry chaparral, and marched up another hill on the flank of the posh Crest de Ville tract of homes in Orange, where it destroyed two houses, damaged 27 others and blackened 750 acres.

Even as firefighters were mopping up the Anaheim fire scene the next day--Oct. 27--many of them were summoned to the scene of an out-of-control blaze in Laguna Canyon, which, whipped by gusty Santa Ana winds, went on to consume 366 homes in Laguna Beach.

Larsen, the author of the threatening letter, said he planned to set the fires to retaliate for a government seizure of his property. He demanded apologies from the judge, prosecutor and agents who were involved in a case against him, and added: “If I get no satisfaction by the time we get a real good volatile fire season you’ll really regret it you’ll see.”

In an FBI affidavit filed Monday, federal agents said Larsen had at first denied and later admitted being the author of the Fedbuster letter.

U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers, in a brief written statement, stressed that Larsen was not being linked to “any specific fire or act of arson.” At least for now, Bowers added, Larsen would be charged only with mailing threats to damage or destroy by means of fire, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Although officials were declining to comment publicly on Larsen’s possible connection to the recent fires, sealed documents filed with the federal court and obtained by The Times reveal that agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have concluded that Larsen “clearly and completely matches the profile of a serial arsonist” and that there is a probability that Larsen has set at least five recent Southern California fires.

The ATF affidavit was filed in support of a search warrant for Larsen’s home and other property.

Among other things, the ATF affidavit states, Larsen owns a 1975 Honda motorcycle and a white Chevrolet van. “Similar vehicles have been seen at two of the . . . arson scenes,” according to the ATF affidavit, which is signed by Special Agent Michael Gleysteen, an arson investigator with the bureau’s Los Angeles office.

The ATF affidavit notes that the Fedbuster letter was reviewed by Dr. Park Deitz, who is described as a “nationally renowned expert in threat-letter assessment.”

After studying the letter, Deitz concluded that “Larsen seeks revenge and retribution and that the letter is not a hoax.”

The affidavit also states that an arson specialist in Washington has studied 12 of the Southern California fires that appear to have been set by serial arsonists. Those 12 fires were mapped, and an arson specialist concluded that the center of the activity was a point about 10 miles from Larsen’s Van Nuys home.

The ATF affidavit states that agents believe Larsen may have set fires that burned in Thousand Oaks, Chatsworth, Steckel Park, Ojai and Rancho Palos Verdes. Together, those fires consumed more than 58,000 acres and scores of homes. Investigators are also trying to determine whether Larsen may have been responsible for any of eight other fires that were believed to be the work of serial arsonists.

Court records show that Larsen has been arrested at least twice for arson, once at age 9 and again in 1976, when he was accused of attempting to set fire to the Sands hotel in Las Vegas. Larsen also has been convicted of counterfeiting, child molestation and an attack with a caustic chemical. Authorities say he is the chief suspect in a string of letters threatening to poison meat and baby food, and that he once mailed a letter to the mother of one of his child victims, threatening revenge.

Larsen appeared briefly in court to be arraigned Monday afternoon. A tall man with graying brown hair, he stood with his head bowed and his hands folded in front of him as U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick ordered him held without bail.

“There are no conditions or combination of conditions that would reasonably assure the safety of the community” if Larsen were released, Eick said, adding that he based his ruling on Larsen’s “lengthy prior criminal record, including crimes of violence and crimes against children, evidence of threats to commit arson and evidence of threats to poison food.”

Larsen showed no emotion as Eick denied him bail. As he stood to be handcuffed and leave the courtroom, he smiled and nodded at Harvey Levin, a reporter for KCBS-TV. During the past week, Larsen allegedly mailed Levin a letter after seeing the reporter on television. Agents were tracking Larsen at the time, and seized the letter after obtaining a search warrant.

Authorities would not publicly release that letter except to Levin, because it was addressed to him. A copy was shown to The Times, however. The author begins by saying “Here’s your favorite buster,” and says he enjoyed watching the recent fires because “I love seeing everyone crying at lost property.”

The author does not directly admit setting fires but writes at one point: “And by the way I did more than one.”

With a long history of arrests and convictions, Larsen has left a rich history in criminal court files throughout Southern California. Monday, those records and interviews with Larsen’s neighbors produced a portrait of a deeply troubled man who has been repeatedly sent to prison and evaluated by psychiatrist after psychiatrist. Without exception, the medical experts have concluded that Larsen is mentally ill.

Times staff writers Jim Newton, Ann W. O’Neill, Mark Pinsky, Mark Landsbaum, Penelope McMillan, Tina Daunt, Timothy Williams, Len Hall and Eric Malnic contributed to this report.

Fire’s High Price

Arson was responsible for 9% of the fires that occurred statewide in 1992 in areas under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Forestry. The area consumed, more than 190,000 acres, is roughly the equivalent of 40% of Orange County. Category: Number Total wildfires: 7,939 Arson-related fires: 736 Total acres burned: 191,490 +

ARSON’S COST

Arsonists also wreaked the most economic havoc--$100 million more in damages than the next leading cause. Cause: Damage Arson: $114,716,310 Vehicles: $13,000,000* Mechanical equipment: $13,000,000* Electrical: $6,200,000* Campfires: $3,337,830 Lightning strikes: $945,508 Smoking: $828,214 Playing with fire: $350,000 Debris burning: $90,476 Miscellaneous: $13,500,000* Undetermined: $3,783,610 Total: $170,775,023** * Estimated

** Individual amounts add to less than total because of estimates.

Source: California Department of Forestry

Researched by JEFF BRAZIL / Los Angeles Times