Parents Say Son Did Not Start Southland Fires

Ernest Larsen does not believe his only child could possibly have started the firestorm that consumed some of the most breathtakingly beautiful neighborhoods in Southern California.

In fact, when those fires broke out, Thomas Lee Larsen, 43, was sitting at home in Van Nuys with his elderly parents, watching television as he always does, his father said Tuesday.

Together, they huddled in their darkened two-bedroom house and watched the fires on the television news. “I thought they were terrible, absolutely terrible,” Ernest Larsen said. And at the time, Thomas Larsen, accused Monday of writing the infamous “Fedbuster” letters threatening to burn Southern California down in revenge for perceived slights by federal officials, seemed to echo his father’s sentiments, the elder Larsen said.

“He thought it was terrible too. He thought it was awful the way all those people were getting burned out.”

The father added, “I’d put my hand on a stack of Bibles and swear that he had nothing to do with starting any fires. That, I know positive.”

Property seized from Larsen so far--including a personal computer and a book of poems--has not yielded any clues directly linking him to the recent blazes, but he is still a key suspect in the case and callers have told investigators that they believe they saw him near where some of the fires erupted, sources said Tuesday.

Larsen has not been charged with arson, but sealed court documents obtained by The Times show that he is a suspect in at least five recent Southern California fires. According to an affidavit filed in support of the request for a search warrant of Larsen’s home, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have concluded that “Larsen clearly and completely matches the profile of a serial arsonist.”

The suspect’s mother, Marie Larsen, doesn’t remember him going out at all during the two weeks of firestorms that raged in the hills and canyons from Laguna Beach to Malibu, which is why she was shocked when federal agents picked him up Sunday.

“He’s home so much, I just can’t remember him being out. He goes to the store and he’s home in no time,” she said.

When the parents, both 77, are pressed about specific times and dates, their memories grow hazy. Their conversation wanders. They waffle on the alibi, and then they say they don’t know.

But Marie Larsen is certain of one thing concerning her son, who has been convicted of crimes such as child molestation and spraying acid on people: “All I thought was, ‘He didn’t do it.’ . . . He’s my only son, my only child. He’s tops. I adore him.”

She said she has been crying since Sunday. She said she misses her son bringing her dinner in bed, where she said she spends most of her time.

Larsen’s father, who owned a television repair shop on Van Nuys Boulevard for 20 years where his son sometimes worked, acknowledges that “Tom” is deeply disturbed. He hopes that his son can see a psychiatrist and get the help he has needed--and largely refused--for decades.

“I just couldn’t talk him into it. He’d say, ‘Hell, I don’t need anything like that.’ . . . Prison won’t help him at all. All that does is make it worse.”

He said he knew his son had been molested as a child, but declined to discuss it. Thomas Larsen has said in court records that he was molested at the age of 11.

The couple said their son spent his days reading, watching television, reading on his home computer and pursuing his favorite hobby: astronomy.

Larsen stands accused of threatening to wreak revenge by fire on a criminal justice system that he believes mistreated him, and now his parents can’t bring themselves to read the paper or watch television. They say they don’t know anything about the cyclone of publicity swirling around their son.

The Larsens have experienced heartache over their son before. They felt it when Thomas was charged at age 9 with setting a fire in a church and punching a parishioner; when he had the first sex charge lodged against him at 17; when he was sent at age 21 to a psychiatric hospital run by the state prison system on a conviction for molesting boys; when he was accused three years later of starting a fire in an elevator at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas; when he was imprisoned again for counterfeiting, and again for dousing 500 cars and seven people with caustic chemicals.

Now, the elderly couple seems overwhelmed and confused as they face the notoriety of “Fedbuster” and the parade of reporters and camera crews who troop to the front door of their tidy brick and beige-stucco house with the barred windows, just a couple of blocks off busy Van Nuys Boulevard.

“I haven’t even read the paper because I haven’t felt up to reading it,” Marie Larsen said. “I’ve been upset. I’ve been sick for quite a while. I’ve had an operation and chemotherapy and I’m weak.”

Three days ago, federal agents swarmed the house, carting away Thomas Larsen’s Macintosh computer, his telescopes and even his notebook of personal poetry, his mother said.

“They cleaned out every damn thing under the sun. We paid for all that stuff. That’s what makes me so mad. . . . I sat in one chair. I wasn’t even looking. I couldn’t face anybody. I couldn’t even look at anybody. It was disgusting.”

Larsen’s father says he tried to set the agents straight:

“I told them there was no way Tom could be involved with those fires because he was here in the house all the time.”

On Tuesday, agents in Los Angeles were sifting through the material seized from Larsen’s home and taken to an FBI evidence area. Some of the items are being forwarded to FBI labs in Virginia for analysis, sources said, and investigators caution that it will be weeks before they have thoroughly reviewed all the material.

Although the seized property has so far not offered any solid leads connecting Larsen to the recent fires, other tips were pouring in, said Agent Larry Cornelison, who heads the arson task force of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ Los Angeles office. Arson investigators were peppered with calls Tuesday from people who say they recognized Larsen’s photograph from television and newspaper reports. Some of them said they believe they saw Larsen near the site of one or more of the fires, Cornelison said.

Investigators are preparing side-by-side mug shots of Larsen and similar-looking men to show to those callers. Investigators are encouraging anyone with information about any fire to call a special hot line: (800) 47-ARSON.

Meanwhile, Larsen’s parents, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, have been left alone now that their son is in custody. They began Tuesday to sort their belongings, which they said were left in disarray by the federal agents who searched their house.

“I don’t know what all they took. I know a lot of his stuff is gone,” Marie Larsen said.

“We are just going through it little by little. A lot of junk we should have been going through and throwing out,” Ernest Larsen said. “I have income tax papers back to 1970. We’ve got too much junk around here. We’re gonna work on that now because we don’t know what is going to happen to our son.”

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