September Prelim Set for Three Corral Fire Suspects

• Judge Describes Actions of Los Angeles Trio as ‘Callous’ and ‘Careless’

BY HANS LAETZ

The three men accused of playing with fire during last Thanksgiving weekend’s monstrous Santa Ana winds—and torching 55 Malibu houses as a result—will hear the details of the prosecution’s case at a preliminary hearing on Sept. 26.
“With three defense attorneys, I would expect we are going to need half a day,” said prosecutor Ann Ambrose, in court on Tuesday.
During a brief court appearance before Judge Leslie Dunn in the Van Nuys Superior Courthouse Tuesday, the three Los Angeles men agreed to the date.
Brian Alan Anderson, accused of being the leader of the trio, remains free on a $230,000 bail. William Thomas Coppock is out on a $100,000 bond, and Brian David Franks is free on his promise last winter to appear in court, after a judge found him to be with no criminal record and a small flight risk.
Criminal defendants usually learn the extent of the charges against them at the preliminary hearing, but an earlier courtroom decision by the judge holding a bail hearing revealed many of the acts that occurred the night of November 23-24 that resulted in the worst fire loss in Malibu in 13 years.
That fire took out 55 homes as it roared down Corral, Solstice and Escondido canyons, causing as much as $600 million in insurance claims. Homeowners are in the process of suing the State Parks Department and other public agencies for allegedly allowing the arsonists free reign in a dangerous area, after numerous requests had been made to close the road at night and better patrol the area.
At that bail hearing last January, Judge Michael Kellogg described the L.A. men’s actions as “callous” and “careless.” Kellogg also summarized the alleged crimes charged to the three men as he set the bail amounts.
The state reportedly has evidence that Anderson ordered his drunken friends to kick burning logs out of a cave overlooking the San Fernando Valley, at the north dead end of Corral Canyon Road, as near-hurricane force, 90-degree hot winds blew the embers into the dark canyon below.
“There is nothing to show me that there wasn’t this callousness,” Kellogg said at the bail hearing, “and a high level of carelessness. And all the sorries in the world don’t change that.”
Anderson, Coppock and Franks had allegedly stolen between three to four packages of precut firewood from the Ralph’s Market at Malibu Colony. Coppock also allegedly purchased lighter fluid, and someone bought a case of either 18 or 30 cans of beer and hard liquor.
Following ATM records, sheriff’s arson investigators tracked down the three alleged arsonists, who each stand charged with three felonies: recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury, recklessly causing fire to an inhabited structure, and arson during a state of emergency. Each count carries a sentence of between two-to-four years.
Also accused in the case are Dean Allan Lavorante and Eric Matthew Ullman, two Culver City men who had started a small bonfire at the cave that the three other men took over, and it subsequently became a large fire that went out of control.
Lavorante and Ullman are charged with the same crimes, but are being tried separately because the evidence against them is different than that for the three L.A. defendants. The pair are free on bail and will face another court date later this month.