LOS ANGELES - Harry Burkhart watched as his mother was arrested last week on fraud charges from their native Germany, and a day later he exploded in an expletive-laced rant against the U.S. at her court hearing.
The next day, police say, the 24-year-old began a nighttime rampage of arson attacks that terrorized Los Angeles.
Authorities have yet to disclose why they believe that the pony-tailed, 24-year-old Hollywood resident set the fires, but his mother's legal trouble provides one glimpse into the turmoil in his life.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday said Dorothee Burkhart, who is in her 50s, was charged with 19 counts of fraud in Frankfurt, including failing to pay for a 2004 breast-augmentation surgery and pilfering security deposits from renters.
In a brief court appearance, she appeared perplexed, wondering aloud if her son was dead.
People are also reading…
At one point, she said, he is mentally ill.
"Where is my son? What did you do to my son?" she asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Nagle.
Harry Burkhart was being held without bail after being arrested in the arson case Monday.
Outside his Hollywood apartment, some neighbors described him as a loner who loitered around the busy commercial strip at night and could be heard arguing with his mother.
But Shlomo Elady, a hairstylist who regularly trimmed Burkhart's long hair, recalled someone who spoke three languages, dreamed of visiting Jerusalem and cared for a sickly mother who had trouble walking.
Elady said he was stunned that the man who lived with his mother above his Sunset Boulevard shop is suspected of torching vehicles, some just steps from his home. The fires caused an estimated $3 million in damage.
"He loved his mom, the way every son loves his mom," Elady said. "He's not a creepy guy."
Burkhart was taken into custody after authorities received a tip from federal officials who recognized him in a security video that showed a ponytailed man emerging from a garage where a car was set ablaze.
"When they saw the security footage, they recognized him and they contacted the arson task force," a State Department official told The Associated Press.
Provisional arrest warrants are normally issued when there are criminal charges pending overseas against someone. Ordinarily, U.S. authorities then obtain an arrest warrant through the State Department and the Justice Department.
Dorothee Burkhart had been in court Thursday afternoon. Harry Burkhart launched into an obscenity-laden tirade, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
The series of fires appeared to have stopped with Burkhart's arrest. The onslaught of intentionally set fires kept residents anxious over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city.
