County Firefighter Accused of Arson

A Los Angeles County Fire Department public information officer and his wife were charged with arson Thursday for allegedly setting ablaze an unoccupied Pasadena house last summer after their attempt to buy it failed.

Roland Lee Sprewell, 37, was arrested by the San Gabriel Valley Arson Explosives Task Force for allegedly lighting a fire that severely damaged the house at 1541 N. Raymond Ave., Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said.

Heidi Sprewell, 36, was charged with one count of arson related to the fire on July 26, 2001.

Prosecutors allege that the Altadena couple set the fire after a bank refused to return a deposit on the home that they had tried to buy.

“They ran into difficulties buying the house and lost their deposit,” Robison said.

Sprewell, a county fire inspector, was booked in County Jail on Thursday and held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

He is scheduled to be arraigned today in Pasadena Superior Court.

Robison said Heidi Sprewell is scheduled to surrender to prosecutors this morning.

“We were all shocked,” said Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

“We’re really caught in the middle here because we think the world of Roland.”

“As firefighters we have a great aversion to any kind of arson,” he added.

“He has always distinguished himself as a very conscientious professional. We certainly hope he’s not guilty.” Sprewell has been a county firefighter for seven years, appearing regularly in newspaper stories and television interviews.

Pasadena Battalion Chief Joe Nestor said that after Pasadena arson investigators established that the fire had been deliberately set and that Sprewell may have been involved, the department referred the matter to the arson task force.

“He was a firefighter with this department [before], so [it] was decided the Alhambra-based task force should investigate it,” Nestor said.

Alhambra arson investigators and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms make up the joint task force that investigated the alleged arson.