Allan Lobos

Case record: Allan Lobos

Background

Allan Lobos was described as a member of the 18th Street gang.

Lobos was arrested in a Kern County prison while serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for two murders.

In 1997, Lobos shot and killed a 16-year-old boy, Alexandro Garcia, who was waiting for a bus to school. A jury convicted Lobos of second-degree murder in February and he was sentenced to 15 years to life for the killing.

The offence

On May 3, 1993, a fire in the Westlake district of Los Angeles killed ten tenants and injured 40 others.

Seven children were killed in the May 3, 1993, fire; all were under age 12. The victims included seven children who were 11 or younger.

The fire also killed three women, including two pregnant women.

The fire occurred in retaliation against an apartment manager who had begun to report drug activity in the complex to police.

The flames spread quickly through the second and third floor hallways, where most victims could not escape and suffocated. Fire doors were either propped or nailed open.

A civil case related to the fire was settled three years before the January 07, 2000 reporting, when insurance companies for the building's owner and managers—Richard I. Kaufman and Yale Management Services Inc.—agreed to pay $2 million to the survivors. After attorneys' fees, some survivors received as little as $198, and one survivor, Elias Verdugo, received more than $500,000 minus attorneys' fees.

Investigation

Police received new information in May from an informant who was arrested in a homicide investigation and told detectives he knew about the fire.

Authorities said the case was difficult to crack because people were too afraid to give information and because witnesses and victims were intimidated by gangs.

Investigators said the informant's details were corroborated by facts known from the scene.

The informant was not offered special treatment for making the statement.

A fire investigator described determination to find the killers because of the ages of seven victims who were 11 or younger.

After the fire, a Times investigation found that many apartment buildings had not been subjected to yearly inspections by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Many buildings had serious fire safety violations, such as missing fire extinguishers and padlocked emergency exits. Fire Department officials failed to follow procedures in forcing the building owner to repair violations that officials said contributed to the 10 deaths.

As a result of the Burlington blaze, the Fire Department implemented a computerized inspection system to help track building inspections. An inspector was added to the neighborhood's Station 11. A five-member task force was assigned to step up fire code inspections on older apartment buildings in the Westlake area; in a week, the group inspected more than one-third of the 207 buildings targeted for special scrutiny. Fire Department officials said the stepped-up enforcement was unconnected to the impending criminal filings against Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos.

Arrest

On November 26, 1998, Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos were arrested and charged with murder for a 1993 apartment fire that killed 10 tenants and injured 40 others.

Andrade was arrested at his home in Hollywood.

Lobos was already in state prison, serving 15 years to life for a 1997 murder in the same neighborhood.

Lobos, both 22, pleaded not guilty in Eastlake Juvenile Court.

Trial

Lobos was previously convicted in the separate 1997 case: a jury convicted Lobos of second-degree murder in February and he was sentenced to 15 years to life for the killing of Alexandro Garcia.

Sentencing

In the separate 1997 case, Lobos was sentenced to 15 years to life.

In the context of the arson-related proceedings, Lobos was previously described as serving a 15-years-to-life sentence in state prison for unrelated murders.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Lobos faced multiple murder charges related to the May 3, 1993, Burlington Avenue tenement fire. In the arson case, he and Rogelio Andrade were each charged with 12 counts of murder and one count of arson.

The 12 murder counts included one count for each child and adult murdered, and two additional counts because Olga Leon, 32, and Rosalia Ruiz, 21, were both pregnant when they died inside the Burlington building.

A hearing was planned to determine whether the two could be tried as adults. If tried outside juvenile justice, both men would be subject to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Charges were later dropped by insufficient evidence in the arson. Prosecutors said there was "insufficient evidence" showing that Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos ignited the fire.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Esposito said:

"It wasn't clear these were the right guys," said Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Esposito, who was prosecuting the case. "No one is thrilled with the idea [of dropping the charges], but we don't want to prosecute innocent people."

Attorney Anthony W. Rayburn, who represented Andrade, said:

"It's not easy dropping a 12-count murder case," he said.

Rayburn also said:

"It's not easy dropping a 12-count murder case," he said. Rayburn said he believes that investigators have more credible evidence pointing to other suspects and that other arrests might be pending.

Rayburn said his client:

"is not happy" about being arrested and spending nearly a year in custody before the charges were dropped.

Rayburn also said:

"He's pleased with the results . . . but he paid a tremendous cost for being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Rayburn said.

Lt. Gary Lynch of the LAPD's criminal conspiracy section said:

"We're continuing the investigation. We've committed a lot of resources to this case,"

and declined to comment on investigation status or whether Andrade and Lobos remained suspects.

Lobos remained in state prison serving time for an unrelated murder.

Aftermath

Prosecutors said the case, which authorities had declared solved, remained open after the arson charges were dropped.

A task force made up of LAPD detectives, Fire Department arson investigators and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents remained assigned full time to the Burlington fire case.

Survivors continued to reconstruct their lives after the civil case settlement described above.

Jose Chavalo, the manager of the apartments since 1995, said:

Chavalo on Wednesday proudly showed how the apartments have been refurbished with a new sprinkler system, video surveillance, fire extinguishers, fire hoses and exit signs.

Margarita Polanco, who lived in the neighborhood at the time of the fire and helped rescue residents, said:

she was glad to hear of the arrests, saying that "the innocent often pay for the guilty."

Timeline

• May 3, 1993 — A fire in the Westlake district of Los Angeles killed ten tenants and injured 40 others.
• 1995 — Jose Chavalo became the manager of the apartments.
• 1997 — Lobos shot and killed a 16-year-old boy, Alexandro Garcia, who was waiting for a bus to school.
• February — A jury convicted Lobos of second-degree murder in the 1997 killing; Lobos was sentenced to 15 years to life.
• November 26, 1998 — Rogelio Andrade and Allan Lobos were arrested and charged with murder for the May 3, 1993, apartment fire.
• September — Charges against Andrade and Lobos were dropped by court records.
• January 07, 2000 — Murder charges were reported dropped against two 18th Street gang members accused in the 1993 tenement blaze.

Other details

People named in connection with the fire included Olga Leon, 32, and Rosalia Ruiz, 21.

Elias Verdugo lost three children and his wife in the blaze and returned to Chiapas, Mexico, with the one son he was able to rescue from the fire.

The address of the 69-unit apartment building was 330 S. Burlington Ave.

Investigation statements included remarks by Thomas L. Derby, an arson investigator for the Los Angeles City Fire Department:

"It was just a matter of time" before the crime was solved.

Derby also said:

"Gang members love to brag about what they did. If you don't catch the person today, you'll get them tomorrow."

Arson investigator Joe Sanchez choked back emotion as he read the names of the dead at a news conference. Sanchez said:

"What's difficult about it is that a lot of our witnesses and victims were obviously intimated by the gangs. They didn't want to be the 13th victim," Sanchez said.

Det. Steven Spear of the LAPD's Criminal Conspiracy Section declined to indicate special treatment for the informant, and Lt. Gary Lynch declined to comment on the investigation's status.