Homeless L.A. man charged with capital murder in arson case

Prosecutors are charging a 21-year-old homeless Los Angeles man with capital murder after five other transient people died in a fire Monday in an abandoned building.

Johnny Josue Sanchez is charged with five counts of capital murder with "special circumstances" of multiple murders, arson murder and two counts of attempted, premeditated murder, according to the office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gustavo Sztraicher agreed to a request from the prosecution that Sanchez be held without bail because it is a potential death penalty case, Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the district attorney, said in an email.

Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney is prosecuting, Lacey's office said.

Witnesses have said many transients frequented the abandoned building on the edge of the city's Koreatown and near MacArthur Park. Sanchez got into a dispute and allegedly set the fire, the prosecutor's office said.

It took 150 firefighters to help extinguish the blaze at the two-story building, which once held an acupuncture clinic.

Authorities released the identities of two of the victims. They are Jerry Dean Clemons, 59, and Mary Ann Davis, 44. Authorities have yet to identify two males and one female victim, the prosecutor's office said.

The bodies were recovered with the help of cadaver dogs, the Los Angeles Times reported.