Dennis Petillo, Calif. man, charged in burning of 67-year-old Los Angeles homeless woman

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

A burned city bus bench in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles after police arrested a man for allegedly setting a 67-year-old woman on fire who was sleeping on the bench, on Thursday Dec. 27, 2012.

/ Greg Risling

(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - A 24-year-old Los Angeles man was charged Monday with attempted murder after a homeless woman was set on fire last week as she slept on a suburban bus bench, the district attorney's office said.

Dennis Petillo is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on the attempted murder charge and an additional count of aggravated mayhem, said Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney. Carney will ask that Petillo's bail be set at $1.03 million.

Prosecutors say Petillo threw a flammable liquid on the 67-year-old woman then set her on fire last Thursday. She remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition, officials said.

Police have released no motive for the crime that shocked the San Fernando Valley community of Van Nuys. This is where the woman had made her home on the streets for years.

Neighbors set up a makeshift shrine at the bench where the woman, whose identity has not been released, habitually slept. Locals said she was known as Violet and eked out a living by recycling cans.

They described her as sweet-natured and never wanting to bother anyone. She had turned down offers of help and efforts to get her into a shelter.

If convicted, Petillo could face a maximum sentence of life in state prison. It is unknown whether he has retained an attorney.

The incident was at least the third in Los Angeles County since October in which people were set on fire.

Earlier this month, a 55-year-old man was seriously injured when he was torched as he slept outside a doughnut shop in Norwalk.

In October, Long Beach police said Jacob Timothy Lagarde, 27, threw a lit Molotov cocktail at a man who had been waiting for his father outside a store. Lagarde has been charged with attempted murder and five other counts.

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December 28, 2012 - Homeless woman set on fire while sleeping on bench, California police say

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