An alert witness called Palmdale Sheriff’s deputies on Saturday at 6:23AM after seeing a man throw a lit object out the window of a white Nissan near the 14 freeway.
When deputies arrived at Rayburn Road and Tierra Subida Road, Palmdale, they searched the brush area and found a broken glass bottle containing a partially burnt piece of cloth. The cloth had a strong flammable odor emitting from it. Fortunately, the brush did not ignite and there was no damage.
The witness wrote down a description of the suspect and car, as well as the license plate number, and provided it to deputies. Using the license plate number provided by the witness, deputies went to the Palmdale home of the registered owner. At the residence they found the registered owner of the car, suspect Miguel Perez.
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Further investigation led deputies to a second suspect at his home in Palmdale, Floyd Sterling. In their interviews with detectives, each suspect made incriminating statements.
Both suspects were arrested for felony attempted arson and were booked at Palmdale Sheriff’s Station. They bail is set at $75,000. The Arson/Explosives Detail of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation.
“The actions of the witness in this case were outstanding,” said Captain Mike Parker, Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau. “Something suspicious was seen, written down, and immediately called in to the sheriff’s department. By providing a good suspect description and car license plate number to deputies, without getting into harm’s way, the witness gave us the tools we needed to solve this case and possibly prevent future harm.”