Suspect in Arson Is Identified : March 2 Fire Damaged State S&L; Offices

Arson investigators have identified a suspect in a mysterious fire that damaged the state Department of Savings & Loan office in a Wilshire District building last March and forced the relocation of hundreds of state employees, a state fire official said Tuesday.

The fire broke out March 2 sometime before 3:30 a.m. on the 15th floor of the 19-story CNA building at 600 S. Commonwealth Ave. Fire officials later said the blaze was the work of an arsonist but until now had not reported having singled out a suspect.

No arrests have been made but fire officials said they hope to file a complaint with the district attorney’s office within two weeks.

“In our minds, we know who lit the fire,” said E. R. Scott Baker, criminal investigator for the state fire marshal’s arson and bomb investigation unit.

Baker would not elaborate further on motives but added that possible suspects, such as disgruntled employees, have been interviewed and discounted. The investigation, he said, has focused on one individual who had regular access to the building.

Not a State Employee

“The person frequents the building and is in and out often. The suspect is knowledgeable and has access. We aren’t talking breaking and entering. We are talking use of keys to get in doors.”

Baker added that the suspect is not a state employee.

Baker said the fire was deliberately set at a desk outside a computer workroom. The building, which is outfitted with an alarm system and is guarded, was locked at the time, he said.

A security guard reported the fire, Baker said.

About 500 employees from six state agencies were forced to find other office space after the fire, which damaged two offices, the S&L; facility and the state Banking Department. Some smoke and water damage was reported elsewhere.

The fire started in a crucial section of the S&L; agency where state thrift regulators analyze the data they develop from their examinations of state-chartered S&Ls.; But officials downplayed the seriousness of any loss.

William Davis, chief deputy commissioner in the S&L; agency, said the fire destroyed documents from about 20 S&Ls;, including at least one that was seized by federal regulators and is being sued by bondholders for fraud. That has given rise to speculation that the fire might have been connected to probes into alleged illegal activity by S&L; companies.

But both Davis and Baker said they did not believe that the suspect’s motive was related to an S&L; probe.

Davis said his office was still piecing together the amount and type of records that were destroyed in the fire. He said he believed that most of the documents that were damaged were duplicates and could be replaced.

‘Fared Fairly Well’

“It (the fire) caused us some problems in lost time in some examinations but, all in all, we fared fairly well,” Davis said.

Davis said employees had updated their computer files the night before the fire, thus saving a lot of information that might have been lost in the fire.

The state had been leasing offices on nine floors of the CNA building for several agencies and for the governor. However, the lease had run out for all the agencies except the S&L;, according to Anne Garbeff, spokeswoman for the state Department of General Services.

Employees from the six agencies--S&L;, banking, corporations, insurance, commerce and emergency services--have been working in temporary quarters since the fire but have begun to lease new office space.

Airborne asbestos fibers were detected after the fire, but a sampling by CAL/OSHA found the level to be “within acceptable limits,” spokesman Richard Stephens said.

Times staff writer James S. Granelli contributed to this story