Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the key break in the L.A. serial arson investigation came Saturday night when federal officials recognized a "person of interest" in the fires.

That night, officials had distributed a video of a man walking near a car fire at the Hollywood & Highland Center parking structure. [...]]]>

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the key break in the L.A. serial arson investigation came Saturday night when federal officials recognized a "person of interest" in the fires.

That night, officials had distributed a video of a man walking near a car fire at the Hollywood & Highland Center parking structure. Beck said unnamed federal officials recognized the man and gave police information about him.

Booking records identified the man as Harry Burkhart, 24, a Hollywood area resident. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown L.A.

''He is the most dangerous arsonist in Los Angeles County that I can recall,'' Sheriff Lee Baca said at an evening news conference.

No new arsons have been reported since Burkhart was taken into custody, but police stressed that the investigation was ongoing.

The fires have caused an estimated $2 million in damage, authorities said.

MAP: Arson fires

At a news conference Monday, officials said the arson task force is sifting through about 100 clues in the case.

Beck said : "I feel very good that we've got the right guy. [The suspect] had the right stuff in his van, and we are confident in the arrest.''

At the news conference Monday evening, Beck stressed the investigation was still ongoing and that it could take some time to present the case to prosecutors. “We are confident in our investigation, but we have a long way to go,” he said.

Beck, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others praised the joint task force probing the more than 50 fires over four days.

PHOTOS: Arson fires

Burkhart appears to have been battling the U.S. government over the immigration status of his mother.

The Los Angeles Police Department is in communication with federal immigration officials concerning the dispute, the law enforcement sources said.

LAPD detectives found materials inside Burkhart's minivan that could have been used to set fires, the sources said. All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

FULL COVERAGE: Arson fires

 The man was detained near a drugstore at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Sunset Boulevard early Monday morning, according to a witness to the incident.

Several sources said Burkhart is believed to be the same person seen in a surveillance video released by police Sunday, when authorities pointed to the individual as a "person of interest" in the case.

The suspect was taken into custody following a morning of fires across the Hollywood area Monday. Eleven fires were reported in two hours, beginning at 1:30 a.m.; most were burning cars and carports in apartment complexes, police and fire officials said.

A total of 53 "fires of concern" have broken out in the Los Angeles area since Friday, possibly the work of one arsonist.

Of those fires, 45 occurred in the Los Angeles area, another nine were in West Hollywood, and one was in Burbank, Erik Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, wrote in a post on LAFD Alert, the department's blog.

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Photo: Los Angeles police examine a vehicle taken into custody when a "person of interest" was detained in connection with a string of arson fires. Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Image: A map shows the locations of fires possibly linked to the recent arsons. Credit: Los Angeles Times

The shooting occurred near the corner of 46th Street and McKinley Avenue in the South Park section of South Los Angeles shortly before 3 p.m., said LAPD Officer Sara Faden.

A 19-year-old [...]]]> A drive-by shooting Monday afternoon in South Los Angeles left a teenager dead and two others, including a child, wounded, authorities said.

The shooting occurred near the corner of 46th Street and McKinley Avenue in the South Park section of South Los Angeles shortly before 3 p.m., said LAPD Officer Sara Faden.

A 19-year-old man was struck multiple times in the upper body and died at the scene. A 57-year-old man was shot in the shoulder, and an 11-year-old girl was shot in the foot. Both were taken to a hospital where they were listed in stable condition, Faden said.

Witnesses said the unknown suspect or suspects were in a gray sedan, Faden said.

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 Los Angeles police on Monday afternoon booked a 24-year-old man on suspicion of arson after an L.A. County sheriff's deputy detained him in connection with a string of more than 50 deliberately set fires  

Booking records identified the man as Harry Burkhart, a Hollywood area resident. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 [...]]]>

 Los Angeles police on Monday afternoon booked a 24-year-old man on suspicion of arson after an L.A. County sheriff's deputy detained him in connection with a string of more than 50 deliberately set fires  

Booking records identified the man as Harry Burkhart, a Hollywood area resident. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown L.A.

No new arsons have been reported since the suspect was taken into custody, but police stressed that the investigation was ongoing.

The fires have caused $2 million in damage, authorities said.

MAP: Arson fires

At a news conference Monday, officials said the arson task force is sifting through about 100 clues in the case.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said : "I feel very good that we've got the right guy. [The suspect] had the right stuff in his van, and we are confident in the arrest.''

According to law enforcement sources, Burkhart has been involved in a dispute with federal immigration officials.

PHOTOS: Arson fires

Burkhart appears to have been battling the U.S. government over the immigration status of his mother.

The Los Angeles Police Department is in communication with federal immigration officials concerning the dispute, the law enforcement sources said.

LAPD detectives found materials inside Burkhart's minivan that could have been used to set fires, the sources said. All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

FULL COVERAGE: Arson fires

 The man was detained near a drugstore at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Sunset Boulevard early Monday morning, according to a witness to the incident.

Several sources said Burkhart is believed to be the same person seen in a surveillance video released by police Sunday, when authorities pointed to the individual as a "person of interest" in the case.

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Best of Southern California [...]]]>
Happy New Year: A. Garcia used an iPhone 4s camera to capture a scene from a New Year’s Eve dinner party in Los Angeles. "I wanted to take a photo that captures the beauty of my old Leica alongside the festive and joyous mood of New Year's Eve," Garcia said.

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– Jenn Harris
twitter.com/jenn_harris_

Every day, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or reader submission gallery. Follow us on Twitter or visit our Facebook page for more on this photo series.

Lt. David Reis, 25, and his sister Karen, 24, were among those killed. The name of the second Navy officer and of the fourth person killed remain undisclosed.

Reis [...]]]> Two young Navy officers and the sister of one of them were among the victims of a New Year's Eve shooting in Coronado, according to people briefed on the investigation.

Lt. David Reis, 25, and his sister Karen, 24, were among those killed. The name of the second Navy officer and of the fourth person killed remain undisclosed.

Reis was a pilot in training at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. His sister was a graduate of UC San Diego.

Their bodies were found in an apartment after neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

One of the four bodies was found in the doorway and the other three inside the apartment, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department homicide investigators.

No motive for the shooting has been revealed, but homicide Lt. Larry Nesbit said there are no suspects considered at large.

–Tony Perry in San Diego

Thomas Francis Kelley, who had two years remaining on a parole violation sentence on convictions for car theft and drunk driving, disappeared New Year's Day after being assigned to firefighting duty.

The [...]]]> Authorities searched Monday for a 51-year-old prisoner who escaped from Donovan State Prison near San Diego by driving away in a fire truck, officials said.

Thomas Francis Kelley, who had two years remaining on a parole violation sentence on convictions for car theft and drunk driving, disappeared New Year's Day after being assigned to firefighting duty.

The truck was later found in Spring Valley east of San Diego. The prison is in Otay Mesa, south of San Diego.

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Photo: Thomas Francis Kelley. Credit: Donovan State Prison

Federal and local authorities were working to learn more about a man arrested Monday in connected with more than 50 fires that broke out over the last few days.

Law enforcement sources said the man, who has not been identified, had lived for some time in Germany before coming to Los Angeles.

It remains [...]]]>

Federal and local authorities were working to learn more about a man arrested Monday in connected with more than 50 fires that broke out over the last few days.

Law enforcement sources said the man, who has not been identified, had lived for some time in Germany before coming to Los Angeles.

It remains unclear what the motive for the fires is  and exactly how law enforcement authorities came to focus on him. The sources said that federal authorities had provided information that helped identify the man as a potential "person of interest" in the case.

The Los Angeles Police Department said officials plan to book the man on arson charges later Monday afternoon.

PHOTOS: Arson fires

The man may have been battling the U.S. government over the immigration status of a relative, but the officials said they don't know if this played any role in the arson case. The LAPD is in communication with federal immigration officials concerning the dispute, said the law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

No new fires have been reported since the man was taken into custody, but police stressed that the investigation is ongoing.

The fires have caused an estimated $2 million in damage, authorities said.

MAP: Arson fires

At a news conference Monday, officials said the arson task force is sifting through about 100 clues in the case.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, interviewed at the Rose Parade by City News Service, said: "I feel very good that we've got the right guy. [The suspect] had the right stuff in his van, and we are very confident we found our man.''

LAPD detectives found materials inside the man's minivan that could have been used to set fires, the sources said.

FULL COVERAGE: Arson fires

Little is known about the suspect. Sources said the minivan had Canadian license plates but that detectives say the man is from Germany.

The man was detained near a drugstore at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Sunset Boulevard early Monday morning, according to a witness to the incident.

Several sources said the man is believed to be the same person seen in a surveillance video released by police Sunday, when authorities pointed to the individual as a "person of interest" in the case.

The man was taken into custody after a morning of fires across the Hollywood area Monday. Eleven fires were reported in two hours beginning at 1:30 a.m.; most were burning cars and fires in carports in apartment complexes, police and fire officials said.

A total of 55 "fires of concern" have broken out in the Los Angeles area since Friday, possibly the work of one arsonist, a fire official said early Monday.

Of those fires, 45 occurred in the Los Angeles area, another nine were in West Hollywood, and one was in Burbank, Erik Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, wrote in a post on LAFD Alert, the department's blog.

At a news conference Sunday morning, officials said many of those fires were also started in cars and in some cases spread to carports, garages and apartments.

They declined to say what evidence tied the cases together or to give more information about how the fires were set. At the time, law enforcement sources told The Times that detectives were concerned that releasing more information could prompt the arsonist or arsonists to change tactics and could encourage copycats.

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Photo: Los Angeles police examine a vehicle taken into custody when a "person of interest" was detained in connection with a string of fires. Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Image: A map shows the locations of fires possibly linked to the recent fires. Credit: Los Angeles Times

People tweeted when they first saw smoke, used cellphones to shoot videos and photos of burning cars, and traded both facts and rumors in rapid stream.

Faced with a quickly changing, highly unusual investigation, [...]]]> When an arsonist began preying on Hollywood last week, social media sites like Twitter quickly emerged as a clearinghouse for information.

People tweeted when they first saw smoke, used cellphones to shoot videos and photos of burning cars, and traded both facts and rumors in rapid stream.

Faced with a quickly changing, highly unusual investigation, L.A. law enforcement agencies embraced Twitter and other forms of social media like never before. Law enforcement and fire agencies essentially joined the conversation, using Twitter and Facebook not only to disseminate information but to get tips and track reports of new fires.

MAP: Arson fires

“This investigation is social media phenomenon," said Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker. “Early, in terms of the public information office, the PIOs noticed that a lot of the best information was coming from and being distributed by social media. We wanted to speak to the public where the public is, and that is social media.”

Parker said that initially the Los Angeles County fire, Los Angeles city fire, Los Angeles police and Los Angeles sheriff’s departments all were using Twitter, Facebook and an internal system to post their individualized information on the arson attacks. But as the sheer number of posts grew, Parker said a task force made the decision to combine efforts with a common Twitter handle (@ArsonwatchLA) and an Arson Watch L.A. Facebook page.

“We got some valuable tips from social media,” Parker said. “I personally passed on to investigators at least three pieces of information from Twitter that were useful.”

Twitter and other social media sites such as Nixle are being increasingly used by police and fire officials.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is considered a pioneer, tweeting out all major incidents on its one Twitter account. The feed became a key source of information during the arson fires, sending out the first official word that a suspicious fire had started.

Some claim that it took the arson scare to jolt previously sleepy agencies into the digital world.
WeHo Daily is a popular Twitter feed sending out news tips for the West Hollywood area. Creator Darin Weeks sent out hundreds of tweets during the fires

Weeks said he was pleased to see law enforcement embrace the technology. He said that he volunteered for the West Hollywood Sheriff's Department's front desk in 2009, sending tweets about streakers and other odd crime when he was off-duty from his apartment full of police scanners.

But when he would return to his volunteer post, he said police told him, “Bad things can happen on Twitter, therefore you are bad.”

But he thinks things are changing now.

FULL COVERAGE: Arson fires

“This event has caused law enforcement to really embrace social media for the first time,” Weeks said. “This is a thing that came into play where they can see how it’s essential to informing the community.”

Sgt. Frank Preciado of the LAPD said that to get the word out a decade ago, officials would have had to hold a last-minute neighborhood meeting with fliers.

“By the time we’d be done with that, we’d be behind the curve, at best, 24 hours,” he said. “Now we can turn out information in minutes.”

Social media can disseminate information more quickly. But authorities warned that not all tips from the public are accurate and sometimes criminals will use social media to lead law enforcement astray.   

Like so many of his neighbors, West Hollywood resident Timothy Ragan began paying close attention to Twitter when he saw smoke from his window around 3 a.m. Monday morning. With a carport and luxury vehicles, he first checked to make sure nothing was amiss. Then he found the proper hashtag, snapped a smartphone photo from his window, and started tweeting.

“All I could think about was when Osama Bin Laden was killed, and when someone tweeted that helicopters had crashed,” said the 25-year-old designer who lives near the corner of Melrose and Croft Avenues. “I wanted to be that first person. Obviously I wasn’t.”

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A pro-ferret group is hunting for a legislative sponsor for its bill to overturn the state's ban on ferret ownership. California bans ferrets as a menace to agriculture, a position that ferret activists vigorously dispute.

A party at which volunteers will address information packets to [...]]]> Despite years of failure in their campaign, ferret lovers hope 2012 is the year that California legalizes their favorite animal.

A pro-ferret group is hunting for a legislative sponsor for its bill to overturn the state's ban on ferret ownership. California bans ferrets as a menace to agriculture, a position that ferret activists vigorously dispute.

A party at which volunteers will address information packets to state legislators is set for Thursday night at the La Mesa home of ferret activist Patrick Wright of www.LegalizeFerrets.org.

Wright is also recruiting ferret owners to testify on the matter at a Feb. 2 meeting of the state Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento.

"I don't want insults or sarcasm used. Just, 'Hey, I'm a Californian, and this issue is important to me,'" Wright suggested in the group's current newsletter.

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– Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Ferrets. Credit: Associated Press