VAN NUYS : Man Who Threatened to Set Fires Is Sentenced

A Van Nuys man was sentenced Monday to three years and four months in prison for writing letters under the alias “Fedbuster” that threatened to set fires.

Thomas Lee Larsen pleaded guilty in January to six counts of sending the threatening letters to fire stations, most in the San Fernando Valley.

Larsen has not been charged with setting any fires, but federal authorities said Monday they have not ruled him out as an arson suspect in the investigation into brush fires that devastated the Southland last fall.

At a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Larsen apologized for the pain he may have caused the recipients of his letters.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “I wish I could take back that one day last year when everything went collapsing in on me and I sent the letters out.

“I kick myself everyday. Why didn’t I just let things go from the past?”

Larsen, a convicted child molester with a long criminal history, wrote in his Fedbuster letters that he was upset about property that had been seized from him. He also demanded an apology from the prosecutors, judges and agents who he claimed were responsible.

Thirty-seven of the letters, which went to Southern California residents as well as fire stations, were sent last August.