Old Fire suspect charged with West Valley Jail sex assault

The man charged with setting 2003′s catastrophic Old Fire in San Bernardino County now faces four additional felony charges involving the rape of a fellow prisoner.

Rickie Lee Fowler, 29, will appear in a Rancho Cucamonga courtroom next week for a preliminary hearing on the newly filed case. Meanwhile, he awaits trial on five counts of murder and one count each of arson of an inhabited structure and aggravated arson.

Prosecutors issued a complaint against Fowler last week alleging three counts of forcible sodomy and one count of sodomy while confined in jail. The incidents occurred Aug. 21 at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where Fowler has been held since last fall.

Circumstances behind the jailhouse attack were not released, though Supervising Deputy District Attorney Vic Stull, who is handling Old Fire proceedings, said that the victim has no connection to that case.

The Old Fire destroyed 1,003 San Bernardino County homes over nine days beginning Oct. 25, 2003.

It burned 91,281 acres, wiping out entire neighborhoods in San Bernardino and surrounding mountain communities.

Six people died of heart attacks while fleeing the flames. Prosecutors charged Fowler with five of those deaths, saying that the stress of the blaze was a direct factor.

Although Fowler was considered a suspect after an early tip, he was not indicted until Oct. 2009.

Detectives believe he stepped out of a van parked alongside Old Waterman Canyon Road and threw a lighted flare into the dry brush.

Fowler and his companions were said to have been seeking revenge against a nearby homeowner — his godfather — over a drug dispute. Shortly after the fire, Fowler was arrested in an unrelated burglary case, pleaded guilty to that felony and another, and was sent to state prison.

It was there that U.S. Forest Service investigators said they got Fowler to sign an admission that he was present when the fire was set. But upon his indictment, Fowler recanted his confession, saying he did it to gain favor for a prison transfer, and “so they’d stop pressuring me.”

In January, District Attorney Mike Ramos announced that he was seeking the death penalty against Fowler. At a pre-trial hearing shortly after, Fowler’s attorney told a judge that his client was cutting himself in jail and had been placed on suicide watch.

Don Jordan requested that Fowler be examined by a psychiatrist. Proceedings were suspended through June, when Judge Brian McCarville declared that Fowler was competent to stand trial.

Tentative trial dates have been set for late October. Stull said that his office is seeking to have the forcible sodomy case transferred to San Bernardino, where the Old Fire prosecution is taking place.

Fowler will appear in Rancho Cucamonga court Tuesday on the new case.

He remains at West Valley Detention Center without bail.

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

Church services are popular at West Valley Detention Center

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Inmates clad in blue and orange jumpsuits gather into common rooms at West Valley Detention Center on Sundays to hear the word of God.

With Bibles in hand, inmates are greeted by volunteers with a warm welcome and a firm handshake. An hour-long service begins with a prayer, is followed by a sermon and concluded with reflections on what they discussed.

For some it may play as a sense of normalcy as inmates are treated to a similar experience that many people receive every Sunday at their respective congregations.

It also serves as an opportunity to get closer to God and also search for forgiveness for their crime.

Alfredo Garcia, 35, is one of about a dozen inmates from the center’s Protective Custody unit who attends Sunday church services.

Before being sentenced to jail, Garcia said he was active in his local church community and attended services has a way to grow and learn life lessons.

“When they (the volunteers) visit, I usually come,” he said. “I want to keep learning how I can make myself better and to forgive myself for what I did.

“And hopefully for others to forgive me for what I did.”

Services are offered four times a day on Sundays, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.

Services are led by volunteers from local churches, including Chaplain Gary Gonzales of Pure Rock Community Church in Beaumont.

Gonzales has been volunteering at West Valley since 1983, helping to spread the word of God to those looking to find religion or continue their religious education.

Many inmates can relate to Gonzales’ message as he was in jail before being released on three years parole in the 1970s.

“I can relate to the daily struggles they themselves might be going through and who are trying to figure it all out,” he said. “It’s an everyday responsibility and they must be willing to make it right, instead of denying something.”

Gonzales said he received the message of God after he headed straight to a Christian men’s home after receiving his parole.

On Sunday, he led a service at the center’s General Population unit, but said he returns to the center every Tuesday to speak to inmates on a one-on-one basis if he is asked.

“They make a request to talk with (me) and I pray with them,” he said. “It’s a way for others to talk with me in a quiet environment because sometimes they want to discuss something they don’t want other (inmates) to know.”

At this Sunday’s service he encouraged inmates after they finish sentence, to follow parole instructions and pay any fines necessary.

“I was in jail for a few months waiting for my trial to start. I was lucky that God didn’t allow me to go to jail, but it was a big wake-up call,” he said.

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Bail by Fax

We make bailing out of the West Valley Detention Center very easy.

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• Bail Bond Application
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Fax No. 1-877-227-7710 with completed paperwork

Once you are approved for a bail bond we process the paperwork and will have a bail bonds agent post the bond with in an hour. Occasionally there can be delays in the booking process or failures in the information systems of the jails that can delay the process.

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