5 Men Arrested In $100M Malibu Fire

Surveillance Video, Receipts, Food Wrappers Led Cops To Suspects

(AP)  Authorities arrested five men Thursday on allegations they caused a fire that destroyed more than 50 homes and caused over $100 million in losses in Malibu.

Investigators used surveillance video, receipts and food wrappers to track down the men who were believed to have been at the cave where the fire started, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said.

"As adults we have always taught our children to be aware of the perils of fire," Baca said. "In this case adults and fire and carelessness ... are things that led to this crime."

Baca identified the men as Brian Allen Anderson, 22; William Thomas Coppock, 23; Brian David Franks, 27; Eric Matthew Ullman, 18; and 19-year-old Dean Allen Lavorante. All five were in custody Thursday evening, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The suspects were each charged with two felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing fire to inhabited structures, according to a statement from the district attorney's office.

They were scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Van Nuys Superior Court. Bail amounts ranged from $240,000 to $265,000.

Each charge would carry two to four years of prison time upon conviction.

Baca said the men were from the Los Angeles area. They did not have listed phone numbers in Los Angeles County.

Whitmore said investigators found several pieces of evidence that indicated revelers had triggered the blaze by setting a campfire at a popular party spot by a cave.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said campfires in the area were prohibited.

Arson detective Irma Gonzales said 12 people had been partying at the cave. She did not comment on how the blaze spread from the campfire, but said the group did not try to fight it, nor did they try to warn residents as they fled from the flames.

"They just drove off," Gonzales said.

A review of security tape from a nearby store's camera and other detective work that took investigators as far away as Shasta County, on the Oregon line, led to the arrest warrants, Whitmore said.

The wildfire destroyed more than 50 homes, more than 30 outbuildings, a mobile home and 37 vehicles. Another 34 homes and 11 outbuildings were damaged. No one was seriously injured.

The fire broke out Nov. 24 and took several days to contain.

[squidly8]

Iceman, I recognized it as satire. Not sure why others didn''t.

[rohink-2009]

I don''t know why the fire started, if it was an accident or intentional. However, 2 to 4 years in prison isn''t the answer. Maybe if we made them work their behinds off to make some kind of restitution would do a lot more to teach them a lesson. A percentage of their paychecks for the next 10 to 20 years would help.

[iceman_1960]

"Iceman_1960 I really do not see that the names of the the guys that have been arrested are even close to being mexican"s."
- Posted by tmunsey at 08:47 AM : Dec 14, 2007

I wasn"t serious about that.

Several posters had assured us some weeks ago that the fires must have been started deliberately by illegal Mexican immigrants.

So my post was meant as satire.

[gunnerv1]

lexluthor5 Remember, a $200k house in the Midwest will go for $750k on the West Coast (and it''ll still be called a white trash house).

[sgtrds]

Typical Mexican sounding names.

Illegals. I just knew it.

Posted by Iceman_1960 at 07:04 AM : Dec 14, 2007

LOL!!!

[Krazcarl]

this was arson it wasn''t global warming just a couple of pinheads thought they were cool.

[squidly8]

For clarification. No one in the story or on the posts attached to this article blamed the fires on global warming. At the time of the fires though, it was all over the news and also all over the comments to articles. The later is what you must have not been paying attention to.

[squidly8]

jh6379. If you didn''t hear people blaming the fires on global warming then you weren''t paying attention.

[Krazcarl]

Ah this is just a case of some city boys trying to impress the ladies with there firemaking ability which obviously they had none of and should be shot on sight any man that loses everything he ownes to a couple of pranksters trying to be cool would offer ammo gun or both sometimes life is simple.

[thgdriver]

Folks want to build their homes right into mother natures back yard. There should be a rule to protect dumb aisses from themselves.

I have a vacation home in the mountains, my wife son and I cleared a fire brake from the forest except for 3 well placed shade trees. In the 31 years I have had it there has been plenty of fires, my place has never been singed, neither have my neighbors. All it takes is a little common sense. The fire insurance I pay for on two homes keeps going up because I have to subsidy some damm fools in Malibu.

[wheezel3]

White trash names.

[cheddarboy82]

lexluthor5 - your just stupid. Rich or not, you want your house burnt to pieces ? all your belongings totaled. Dont be jelous of rich people, its kinda sad

[squidly8]

I bet all the greenies that blamed the fires on global warming are busily trying to come up with new excuses how it really was global warming even though it was set by these jerks.

When will this one come up? "They might have started the fire but because of global warming, everything was so dry, it was worse than it should have been"..

Wait for it.....wait for it....wait.....

[mythoughtsr]

nwihoosier, lexluther is an idiot and I''m sure he/she knows it. I don''t care if you are rich or poor, people who lose their home to an arson fire are victims. Rich people work for what they have too.

Also, Iceman, maybe one of those names "sounds" like it could be a Mexican type name. The rest? Um, no. Anyway, have you spent your entire teenage years sitting at the computer at this site or did you and your friend (lol) ever party in the woods? Nevermind, you wouldn''t know what I was talking about.

The people who started the fire and didn''t take actions to prevent or warn should be punished severely.

[tmunsey-2009]

Iceman_1960 I really do not see that the names of the the guys that have been arrested are even close to being mexican''s. They are definately a mixed group, but from my experience with the names of mexican''s in the labor farms here in California, none of them had last names of the mention alleged fire starters.

[iceman_1960]

The alleged firestarters: "Brian Allen Anderson, 22; William Thomas Coppock, 23; Brian David Franks, 27; Eric Matthew Ullman, 18; and 19-year-old Dean Allen Lavorante."

Typical Mexican sounding names.

Illegals. I just knew it.

[nwihoosier]

The party guys are jerks. Lexluther''s mentality takes the focus away from those clowns and brings it to his moronic opinions. Lexy you are one stupid fool. Ha Haaaa

[ajmystic]

If they do lock these guys up, make sure they get work release. That way they can give their paychecks to the insurance companies so that everyone''s rates won''t go up. I know it would take a lot more than 2-4 years to pay everything back, but a little is better than nothing.

[sgtrds]

Idiots.

[republic1776]

2-4 seems fair, if none was hurt.
However, if it was an accident and they stepped up then there should get the max fine for thier carelessness