{"id":2389475,"date":"2025-01-13T04:20:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T09:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-with-blowtorch-near-la-wildfire-identified-as-illegal-immigrant-from-mexico-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T04:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T09:21:08","slug":"man-with-blowtorch-near-la-wildfire-identified-as-illegal-immigrant-from-mexico-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-with-blowtorch-near-la-wildfire-identified-as-illegal-immigrant-from-mexico-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Man with blowtorch near LA wildfire identified as illegal immigrant from Mexico &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fman-with-blowtorch-near-la-wildfire-identified-as-illegal-immigrant-from-mexico-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2389475&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article \u200creports on\u200b an incident involving a man named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva,who was arrested for allegedly trying to start \u2062fires in a Los\u2062 Angeles neighborhood\u2064 with a blowtorch. \u2062According \u200dto Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, Sierra-Leyva is identified as an illegal immigrant \u2064from Mexico.\u2063 Information was \u200dprovided by sources \u2064within the U.S. Immigration and customs Enforcement (ICE), revealing that he was in the country unlawfully.\u200b Although he was taken into custody,he has not yet\u200c been charged with the arson attempt.The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">report gained attention<\/a> after a \u200dvideo of the arrest went \u200cviral, capturing the moment residents \u2064subdued Sierra-Leyva before\u200d law \u200denforcement arrived.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Man with blowtorch near LA wildfire identified as illegal immigrant from Mexico<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1932032\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The man with a blowtorch who was arrested by citizens last week after allegedly trying to start fires in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/los-angeles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Los Angeles<\/a> neighborhood is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/illegal-immigrants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">illegal immigrant<\/a>, according to a report Sunday night.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin claimed that Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, the aforementioned accused arson suspect, is a Mexican national in the country illegally. Melugin shared the information in a post on X, stating that he received the information from insider sources at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: Per ICE sources, the man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents &amp; arrested by police w\/ a blowtorch near the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KennethFire?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KennethFire<\/a> in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva. He is in custody on a probation violation &amp; has NOT been charged&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BillMelugin_\/status\/1878618919054823502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;NEW: Per ICE sources, the man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents &amp; arrested by police w\/ a blowtorch near the<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/KennethFire?src=hashtag_click\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> #KennethFire<\/a> in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva,&rdquo; Melugin <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/billmelugin_\/status\/1878618919054823502?s=46\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted<\/a>. &ldquo;He is in custody on a probation violation &amp; has NOT been charged w\/ arson.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Sierra-Leyva was initially taken into custody by law enforcement officials after a call to the Los Angeles Police Department notifying them that a man was purposely trying to start a fire in Woodland Hills, approximately five miles from where the Kenneth Fire began, the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/los-angeles-times\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Los Angeles Times<\/a><\/em>  reported. Witnesses pursued the man, eventually confronting him and holding him down while waiting for police to arrive to detain him. He was allegedly riding on a bicycle and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3282761\/citizens-arrest-arson-suspect-blowtorch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">carrying a blowtorch while trying to light old Christmas trees and trash cans on fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We were sitting in the backyard and suddenly, we hear a car come to a screeching halt, and the guy is running out saying, &lsquo;Stop! Drop what you&rsquo;re holding! Neighbors, he&rsquo;s trying to start a fire! Call 911!&rsquo;&rdquo; witness Renata Grinshpun <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/woodland-hills-residents-stop-man-blowtorch-who-may-be-connected-kenneth-fire-officials-say\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> KTLA.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He was very, like, &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t stop. I can&rsquo;t stop. I&rsquo;m not putting this down. I&rsquo;m doing this,&rsquo;&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/woodland-hills-residents-stop-man-blowtorch-who-may-be-connected-kenneth-fire-officials-say\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> another witness. &ldquo;And very focused on moving forward with the blow torch. And we&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;We can&rsquo;t be doing that right now.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>After investigating and questioning the suspect, LAPD Divisional Chief Dominic Choi decided not to charge him with arson.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;After the interview and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bizarre-somehow-henry-winkler-was-ahead-of-the-la-fire-dept-when-it-came-to-potential-fire-cause\/\" title=\"Bizarre: Somehow Henry Winkler Was Ahead of the LA Fire Dept. When It Came to Potential Fire Cause\">additional investigative steps<\/a>, looking at some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mich-lawsuit-shows-evidence-of-election-fraud-electronic-vote-tampering\/\" title=\"Mich. lawsuit shows evidence of election fraud, electronic vote tampering\">additional evidence<\/a> that was present, they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion of arson,&rdquo; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/local-news\/man-detained-near-kenneth-fire\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Choi.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He was, however, charged with a felony probation violation, KTLA reported. Melugin mentioned this in his X post on Sunday night, along with additional updates on the case.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;ICE will place a detainer request on him with the L.A. County Sheriff&rsquo;s Department, but they do not expect it to be honored due to California&rsquo;s Sanctuary State law,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m told Sierra-Leyva will have a court appearance tomorrow. Again &ndash; he has not been charged w\/ arson and is in custody only on a probation violation at the moment, as multiple agencies have been interviewing him.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1932032\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1932032\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man with blowtorch near LA wildfire identified as illegal immigrant from Mexico<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2389476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-08-at-4.45.53%E2%80%AFAM-1024x742.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[48252,27345,36585,4133,22644],"class_list":["post-2389475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-blowtorch","tag-illegal-immigrant","tag-los-angeles","tag-news","tag-wildfire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-08-at-4.45.53%E2%80%AFAM-1024x742.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389475"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2389479,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389475\/revisions\/2389479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2389476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}