Bribery Alleged in Investigation of Fatal Car Fire

Police have arrested a Fullerton man they suspect tried to bribe a fire official into lying about the cause of a 1995 car blaze that claimed the life of his baby girl.

William Vincent Romero, 31, allegedly told the investigator he planned to sue General Motors, which manufactured the gutted 1969 Buick, “if it could be ruled” that the blaze was caused by an electrical malfunction, said Police Sgt. Joe Vargas. Romero then offered to buy Anaheim fire investigator Mike Doty a condominium on Maui and give him $60,000 from the settlement money, police said.

“He basically said, ‘Here, do this and we’ll split the winnings,’ ” Vargas said.

The fire occurred Aug. 18, 1995, in the parking lot of an Anaheim apartment complex on State College Boulevard, where William Romero’s wife, Christina, had stopped to pick up a rental application, officials said. Christina Romero and her brother-in-law, Danny Romero, ran inside the rental office about 7:30 p.m., leaving an adult friend with Christina Romero’s three children in the car.

Within minutes, the Buick was engulfed in fire, with tenants scrambling to beat the flames back with towels and fire extinguishers. Gloria Cordero, who had been waiting in the car, managed to pull two of the children, aged 3 and 5, to safety.

But through the smoke and heat, Cordero was unable to get 11-month-old Cassandra out of her car seat. She told officials she had been unable to release the safety belt on the baby’s car seat despite several attempts.

Investigators first believed that the fire was caused by one of Cassandra’s older siblings who was playing with a lighter next to her in the back seat. They later concluded it had been intentionally set, but no arrests were made, said Fire Battalion Chief Bruce Jacobson.

“There just wasn’t enough evidence to prove the case,” he said.

The cause of the fatal fire was also reviewed by Anaheim police homicide detectives, Sgt. Bob Conklin said.

“We looked at it as a death under suspicious circumstances, but it was inconclusive as to cause,” he said.

During the investigation, officials said William Romero brought Doty an electrical mechanism from a another car and asked him to exchange it with the real part that was being held as evidence from the burned car. The “replacement part” had been altered to look like it had shorted out and caused a fire, Vargas said. It had also been scorched in an oven.

Jacobson said the part came from a mechanism in the car that moves the front seat back and forth.

“He brought it to us and said, ‘Make this right for my family,’ ” Jacobson said.

William Romero was arrested Wednesday at his Fullerton home. He was booked into the Anaheim City Jail on suspicion of offering a bribe to an officer and preparing false evidence, both felonies.

Records show that the Romeros filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last year against the makers of the baby seat and the City of Orange. The suit seeks $1 million from the city, which sold the seat to the couple through a safety promotion by the Orange Police Department.

*

Bonnie Hayes can be reached at (714) 966-5848. Her e-mail address is bonnie.hayes@latimes.com