A Granada Hills man has been charged with setting a gentlemen’s club ablaze in Canoga Park and setting fire twice to an electrical vault in the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles, the District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Cyrus Farsaad, who will turn 48 on Saturday, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of arson of property and two felony counts of arson of a structure, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Farsaad allegedly set fire March 5 to the gentlemen’s club, causing significant charring, heat and smoke damage to the business, which was closed at the time, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
He is also accused of setting fire March 2 to an electrical vault at a warehouse, with the fire eventually self-extinguishing, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He allegedly returned six days later to the warehouse and set the electrical vault ablaze again, with the fire spreading to the warehouse and causing minor damage, authorities said.
No one was injured in any of the blazes.
Farsaad was arrested Tuesday and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
“Serial arsonists pose a grave threat to our communities. They threaten property, livelihoods and put lives at risk,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement announcing the charges. “I commend the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department for their swift apprehension of the individual responsible for these incendiary crimes.”
Chief Thomas Raymond of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Arson Counter-Terrorism Section, added in the statement, “Serial arson is not a property crime. It is a direct threat to civilian lives and to every firefighter we send in to stop it.”
Farsaad is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom April 7. A date is scheduled to be set then for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to 14 years and four months in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.