LOS ANGELES — The German man suspected of setting more than four dozen fires in Los Angeles over the New Year’s weekend faces at least 37 counts of arson, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Harry Burkhart, 24, a Hollywood-area resident, faces 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure in connection with the four-day fire spree that spread fear and panic across the city and caused an estimated $3 million in damage.
The charges stem from 13 fires he has been linked to thus far, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Burkhart, who travels using a German passport but purportedly was born in Chechnya, was due in court Wednesday to be arraigned on the charges.
As the investigation continues, he is likely to face additional charges.
“The investigation of the 52 fires believed connected to this defendant is not over,” District Attorney Steve Cooley said. “Appropriate action will be taken as further evidence is presented for our review.”
Cooley added that Burkhart faces a prison sentence if convicted.
“Arson of an inhabited structure is a violent felony punishable by state prison, not a state prison offense punishable by county jail,” the prosecutor said.
Nearly all of the blazes were started in cars or under vehicle engines and in most cases spread to car ports, garages and homes. The complaint alleges that Burkhart used a device designed to accelerate the fires, Cooley said. If that claim is found true, the defendant could face additional time behind bars.
Burkhart, who was arrested early Monday, has reportedly been placed on suicide watch and has not been cooperating with police.
He said nothing about the fires during interrogations, a senior LAPD official told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday, adding that when the suspect has spoken, he mostly has ranted about law enforcement and the United States.
Further details continued to emerge about Burkhart and his mother Wednesday, who were both wanted by investigators in their homeland.
Prosecutors investigating an October 2011 house fire in the central German city of Marburg confirmed Wednesday they want to speak to Burkhart. Annemarie Wied, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in the city, told AFP, “When the fire was extinguished, there were indications of arson.”
An insurance claim was made on the house, which was owned by the Burkhart family, the following day, Wied said, triggering the suspicions of investigators.
US officials, searching for a motive for the LA fires, are investigating links to an immigration dispute involving his mother, Dorothee Burkhart, who was detained last week at the request of the German government on various fraud charges, including skipping out on payments for her breast augmentation.
Her son, angry that US authorities were trying to deport his mother, reportedly launched into an anti-American tirade at an immigration hearing and had to be escorted from the court.
The mother, who has been in federal custody since her arrest Thursday, cried out multiple times during a new court appearance Tuesday, demanding to know the whereabouts of her son, whom she described as mentally ill.
She has also been linked to a massage business called Hollywood Tantra Massage, which, according to its website, offers “full body hot oil body to body sliding massage” and “sensual tantric loving erotic touch in combination with deep tissue, incl. g-spot and hotspots massage.”