Warrant Issued For Pang In Deadly Warehouse Arson But Suspect Has Fled To Rio, According To His Lawyer
For six years, Martin Pang told friends that his parents’ Chinese frozen-food business, the result of decades of hard work, would be burned down.
Last year, he asked some friends to torch the building, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. The friends say they turned him down, but the building went up in flames Jan. 5, and four firefighters died inside.
On Friday, after two months of intense investigation, Pang was charged with four counts of firstdegree murder. An arrest warrant setting bail at $5 million was issued.
Pang’s lawyer said Friday his client has fled to Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
“The evidence has taken us beyond mere suspicion, past probable cause, and has given us a strong case to take to a jury,” King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said. “Martin Pang is no longer just a person of interest wanted for questioning. He is a fugitive wanted for murder.”
Each murder count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Maleng said aggravated first-degree murder, the only crime carrying the death penalty in Washington, was precluded by a lack of evidence that the fire was intended to cause death.
Pang has been sought on a federal fugitive warrant for a month. He apparently gave authorities the slip nearly three weeks ago in Venice, Calif., a seacoast suburb of Los Angeles.
Pang’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, indicated Friday that authorities know his client is in Rio.
Maleng said in court papers that Pang had been trying to determine which countries lacked extradition agreements with the United States.
Browne said Pang had not asked him about that.
“But I happened to find out yesterday that if you marry a Brazilian, you can’t be extradited,” he told The Seattle Times.
The charges filed Friday will make it easier to extradite Pang, Browne said.
He said he and his client last spoke by telephone on Monday night.
“That was the first I heard of it,” Browne said of Pang’s departure. “I counseled him strongly that he needed to come in … that I was getting irritated at him.”
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