LOS ANGELES (CNS) – State lawmakers and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced proposed legislation Monday aimed at toughening penalties for looters and others who would take advantage of property owners in fire zones.
The bill, AB 469, has bipartisan support in Sacramento and would make it a felony that could send unscrupulous scammers to longer prison terms, backers said.
“We sent a message from the very beginning to the would-be looters, the arsonists, the people who would by impersonating firefighters, the price- gougers and the financial scammers,” said Hochman, who was joined by Sheriff Robert Luna and other elected officials at a news conference at the Hall of Justice. “The question was not if, but when they would be arrested, then prosecuted, then punished to the maximum extent of the law, but when we turned to the law of looting, it turns out when we pulled open the penal code, we saw the law of looting was actually underwhelming.”…