Man Pleads Not Guilty to Store Arson

A Moorpark College student pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Ventura County Municipal Court to a charge of arson in a September fire that destroyed a Thousand Oaks comic-book store, a blaze his lawyer blamed on the store’s owner.

Christopher Nagano, 20, of Thousand Oaks denied a charge of arson in the Sept. 18 fire that gutted the Heroes and Legends comic-book store, owned by Myron Cohen-Ross of Agoura Hills. The fire also damaged two neighboring shops.

Nagano also pleaded not guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property, which stemmed from an October arrest in which police seized a gun from him that had been stolen from the Agoura shooting range where he worked.

So far, Nagano, who faces a Dec. 21 preliminary hearing, is the only person to be arrested in the case, initially investigated as a probable hate crime because the store was spray-painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans before it was set ablaze.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Vanarelli told the court that Nagano videotaped the arson, and that he was to receive a large sum of money for his role after an insurance settlement was paid to Cohen-Ross.

Defense attorney Louis B. Samonsky Jr. argued, however, that Nagano merely came into possession of a videotape of the fire, which, he told the court, a police informant has said was arranged by Cohen-Ross.

Samonsky also alleged in court that Cohen-Ross filed a false and inflated claim on his losses, adding that if the company pays the claim, “They’re crazy.”

Cohen-Ross, who has not been arrested, could not be reached for comment.

Municipal Judge Bruce A. Clark ruled that Nagano was not a danger to the community and reduced his bail from $500,000 to $50,000. He also ordered Nagano to stay away from Jason Kinzer, the police informant who had implicated Nagano in the fire.

Vanarelli argued that Nagano told friends that he videotaped someone torching the store, and that he was to receive a large sum of money after the insurance company reimbursed Cohen-Ross for losses in the fire.

Kinzer told police that it was Nagano’s idea to make the fire appear to be a hate crime, according to court papers.

But Samonsky argued that Nagano’s only involvement was that he learned about it beforehand, that he was promised $1,000 to keep quiet, and that he somehow came into possession of the videotape afterward--Samonsky would not explain how.

In remarks made outside court, Samonsky portrayed Nagano as little more than an aspiring sleuth and eccentric tinkerer, who sought to expose what a police informant said was a plan by Cohen-Ross to burn his own store for profit.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Kitty Hoberg, an investigator in the case, responded that Nagano was arrested because police believe “that he was either involved in the planning and setting of the fire, or he set the fire himself.”

Vanarelli declined to comment on Samonsky’s remarks, saying only, “Mr. Samonsky can say whatever he wants.”

Former store employee Jeffrey Leaverton had told police that Cohen-Ross removed a carload of merchandise from the Thousand Oaks store and moved it to his Agoura Hills store three days before the fire. He also said Cohen-Ross had serious financial difficulty because of gambling, according to a police affidavit.

In response, Cohen-Ross accused Leaverton of being a “disgruntled ex-employee” who had vowed revenge on his former boss.

In a letter received by The Times on Tuesday, Leaverton contested those statements, denying he had been fired.

“I quit working for Mr. Ross in mid-June of 1992 due to the deteriorating financial ability of Mr. Ross to afford payroll,” Leaverton wrote from the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, where he has been imprisoned since Nov. 3 for driving under the influence.

Cohen-Ross had accused Leaverton of lying to police because he was angry he had been fired.

“Nothing can be more ridiculous,” Leaverton said in the letter. “Three days prior to the fire that destroyed his Thousand Oaks store, I was in his Agoura store helping him unload merchandise from the Thousand Oaks store.”

Times correspondent Doug McClellan contributed to this story.