Motive Told of Suspect in 350 Fires

Victor Manuel Gomez, the man authorities say set 350 fires in the Downtown garment district that did more than $4 million in damage over the past three years, did so for the pleasure of seeing the fires--not for any financial gain or personal vendetta, investigators said Thursday.

“He’s a classic pyro,” Investigator John Little of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s arson squad said.

Authorities believe that Gomez, 38, of the San Fernando Valley community of Arleta, is the serial arsonist who has been the target of a three-year hunt by a special task force of federal and local agents. The task force was formed after investigators concluded that many garment district fires began the same way--by someone igniting a scrap of cloth or paper with a match or lighter near a door that offered easy escape.

Gomez was captured March 14 after the manager of a building that houses garment industry firms reported recognizing him from a photo distributed Downtown by the task force.

Although the district attorney’s office has charged Gomez only with setting 10 blazes that occurred in the last six months, investigators said they believe he is responsible for 350.

Gomez had appeared repeatedly on security camera videotapes, entering or leaving garment district buildings where fires later broke out, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Savitt said Thursday.

“This guy’s photograph would keep popping up on tape,” Savitt said.

Under state law, 12 years is the maximum sentence for nonviolent arson, Savitt said, and Gomez would receive no more severe penalty if he were charged in the other crimes as well.

Investigators agreed that Gomez, a transient garment dealer and button dyer who floated from clothing business to business, did not set the fires for any financial gain.

“It was not an arson for profits scheme,” said John D’Angelo, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which formed the task force with Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators.

Gomez was arrested in an office building next to a fabric shop after he was identified by Bobak Kalhor, who manages nine properties in the area. Kalhor said he recognized Gomez as the man pictured on a flyer distributed by investigators throughout the garment district since last summer.

Kalhor said Gomez gave him a fictitious name of a tenant he was visiting in the building, and he called authorities, stalling Gomez until agents arrived to arrest him.

William Lozano, an employee of the building where Gomez was arrested, on Thursday pointed to a scorched area on the fourth floor where he said trash cans containing scraps of materials were set afire weeks ago. He said he had seen Gomez loitering in an alley behind the building a few days before the fire.

Merchants in the garment district were hesitant to talk about the fires.

“People are afraid to talk because this guy might get off and come back and finish the job,” said one fabric store owner who asked not to be identified.

In August, Gomez was photographed by a security guard after allegedly trying to steal $600 worth of fabric at Dollar Fashion, Savitt said. The guard let Gomez go, but agents of the task force later acquired the photo to use in the flyer.

Gomez “has a conservative record, nothing that would dictate he was an arsonist,” said Detective Ben Black of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Burglary Division. “He didn’t appear to be angry or have any vendettas against anyone.”

Gomez is being held in County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned today on the arson charges.