Suspect in Fatal Arson Blaze Is Arraigned

A suspect in the arson fire that killed three people and injured 19 in a Downtown tenement was arraigned in Municipal Court on Thursday on two counts of making terrorist threats.

Julio Garcia, 35, a former tenant of the residence hotel at 1120 S. Grand Ave., faces up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted of threatening to burn down the building and harm a maintenance man.

Although Garcia is an arson-homicide suspect in Monday’s pre-dawn blaze, a prosecutor said there was no direct evidence against him.

“The statements indicate something,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Denton, “but that’s not enough to file (arson-homicide) charges against him. . . . It’s going to be a hard case for the detectives.”

Denton said Garcia threatened to burn down the building during an argument over rent on Oct. 28 and made a more general threat against the maintenance man at the building Oct. 30.

Garcia allegedly told Donna Ramirez, daughter of a co-owner of the building, that he would burn the structure if she evicted him for failure to pay back rent.

Two days later, according to Denton, Garcia confronted Martin Magallanes as he was cleaning up Garcia’s room. Believing that Magallanes was evicting him, Garcia allegedly said: “You’re going to get it. I’ll be back.”

Later that day, Denton said, Ramirez evicted Garcia and the suspect left the building.

Garcia is being held on $100,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 2.

In January, Garcia was sentenced to two years probation and 30 days in jail for attempting to burglarize a wholesale shoe store.