LOS ANGELES : Sergeant Pleads Not Guilty in Series of Arson Fires

A Maywood police sergeant pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he set fire to five abandoned buildings and lumberyards in Maywood, causing $1 million in damage, authorities said.

Stephen Nagy, 33, was charged with five counts of arson and five counts of attempted arson for a series of fires in Maywood between March and June, 1991, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday. “He was trying, in a ‘Dirty Harry’ sort of way, to clean up the city,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jodi Rafkin said. Rafkin said that Nagy, an 11-year veteran of the Police Department, had been suspended. “My client is very distraught and very concerned,” said Nagy’s attorney, Peter Giannini.

Maywood authorities became suspicious last March when a series of fires raged through abandoned buildings in the 1.4-square-mile city, Rafkin said. All the fires occurred between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. during Nagy’s shift, she said. Nagy arrived at the fires and took control of the scene, Rafkin said.