Man charged with attempted murder of homeless man is also homeless, Glendale police say
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A man accused of attempting to light a sleeping homeless man on fire in Glendale earlier this month is also homeless, according to authorities.
Richard Smallets, 32, was initially identified as only a local resident when the Glendale Police Department announced on Tuesday he had been arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Sgt. Dan Suttles, a spokesman for the department, said the omission was unintentional, and the department has “no issues letting people know [Smallets] was also a transient.”
On Sept. 12, a pile of cardboard boxes was set ablaze near Brand Boulevard and Harvard Street around 1:20 a.m. A man sleeping underneath the boxes was awoken by the smoke from the fire and tried to extinguish the flames with water from a bottle.
Although he was unsuccessful, the fire was eventually extinguished by members of the Glendale Fire Department. Suttles said the man was unharmed by the fire.
Later that day, detectives were able to obtain surveillance footage from a nearby business that showed a man intentionally setting the fire and taking photos as the cardboard burned.
Police eventually identified Smallets as the man in the footage and took him into custody. It’s unknown if Smallets knew the man sleeping underneath the boxes or why he started the fire, according to Suttles.
He is currently being held in lieu of $1-million bail, and his next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 30 in Burbank.
