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Arson Suspects Arrested
By frhayes | July 23, 2008
This article written by Tracy Manzer of the Press Telegram appeared on June 15, 2008. For the complete story and a video of the arrest click on to the link provided below.
LONG BEACH – Surveillance video and bragging rights led to the arrest early Tuesday of two Long Beach men in connection with one of the most aggressive arson cases to plague Long Beach in recent memory.
Caldrin Benitez and Juan Alvarez, both 22, emerged bleary eyed from their West Long Beach homes as West Division patrol officers dressed in riot gear banged on their doors at about 6:30 a.m. to serve arrest and search warrants.
Both are suspected of setting 24 fires in their neighborhood over a period of about four days in June and early July, said Arson Investigator Richard Birdsall, a Long Beach Police detective assigned to the fire department’s Arson Detail.
Most of the fires set at or near homes or businesses in an area bordered roughly by 31st Street, Adriatic Avenue, Spring Street and Santa Fe Avenue, authorities said.
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