An arson case against a 29-year-old man was dismissed Thursday after he completed a mental health diversion program in connection with charges stemming from an August 2019 brush fire that burned 45 acres in Eagle Rock and forced the closure of portions of two freeways.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had objected to the diversion program for Daniel Michael Nogueira, saying in a statement released just over a year ago that the prosecution believed that he “poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”
Defense attorney Alan Jackson countered last year that the court’s decision “will allow Mr. Nogueira the opportunity to get the help he clearly needs.”
“This decision protects the community, and it provides needed resources for Mr. Nogueira,” Jackson added in the March 2022 statement.
Nogueira was charged in March 2021 with one felony count each of use of a destructive device and explosive to injure or destroy and arson of a structure or forest involving the Aug, 25, 2019, blaze, along with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon involving a “firework mortar” involving two alleged victims, according to the criminal complaint
It took firefighters two days to fully contain the wildfire, which wound up jumping the Ventura (134) Freeway and threatened some homes, although none ultimately burned. The blaze sent a large plume of smoke visible across the Los Angeles Basin, and forced the closure of stretches of the Ventura and Glendale (2) freeways.
Authorities said the fire started near a homeless encampment adjacent to the Glendale Freeway.
Two people at the encampment suffered minor injuries, and a firefighter was hurt while fighting the blaze, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Nogueira — who lived in Eagle Rock at the time — was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department detectives less than a week after the fire, authorities said. Jail records show that he was subsequently freed on $1 million bail the day after his arrest.
Nogueira was subsequently freed on his own recognizance with the conditions that he not own or use any type of destructive devices and not stop or loiter near any homeless encampments.