RANDY ECONOMY: MY WORLD: Greg Shiga Charged in St. John Vianney Catholic Church Arson in Hacienda Heights

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Greg Shiga Charged in St. John Vianney Catholic Church Arson in Hacienda Heights

WEST COVINA – An alleged arsonist accused of torching St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Hacienda Heights, causing damages in excess of $6.5 million, is expected to be arraigned this afternoon, the District Attorney’s Office announced. Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose of the Target Crimes Division, Arson Section, said Gregory Yusuke Shiga, 34 (dob 3/01/78), of Hacienda Heights is charged with one count each of aggravated arson, arson of a structure or forest, possession of flammable material and second-degree commercial burglary. Shiga is expected to be arraigned after 1:30 pm in Department 4 of Citrus Superior Court in West Covina. His bail is recommended at $1 million. The criminal complaint alleges that the fire caused property damage and other losses in excess of $6.5 million. The charging document also includes special allegations that the defendant proximately caused multiple structures to burn and that the arson was caused by use of a devise designed to accelerate the fire or delay ignition. Shiga allegedly broke into the church’s sanctuary just after midnight on April 16, 2011. The fire caused extensive damage to the church and to surrounding buildings. No one was hurt. Shiga was arrested on May 14 in Los Angeles following a year-long investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. The defendant faces a minimum sentence of 10 years to life in state prison.

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Meet Randy Economy

You may know me from my role as the Senior Advisor and Official Media Spokesman for the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign that established a worldwide blitz of interviews. I conducted more than 2,200 media interviews on behalf of “The People’s Recall” during a 10-month period from November 2020 to September 2021. The iconic magazine Mother Jones in a dramatic feature article called me “A ‘Superhero Pirate’ Radio Host, (and) Gavin Newsom’s Strangest—and Most Dangerous—Threat. Meet Randy Economy, the man behind the effort to recall California’s governor.” I appeared on more than 330 media outlets around the world in my capacity with RecallGavin2020. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, NBC Nightly News, ABC News, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and dozens of other media outlets aired featured reports on my work on behalf of “The People’s Recall.” I am and will always consider myself to be a journalist. Sometimes I think I bleed ink. My talents as an Investigative Journalists in California earned me FIVE top awards from the prestigious Los Angeles Press Club in 2013, 2014, and 2016. I am tenacious. My reporting over the years has led to the prosecution of several elected officials in California. While working for a tiny community newspaper in Southeast Los Angeles County, I worked doggedly to expose the biggest public corruption case in Los Angeles County history when I unearthed a massive pay to play scheme inside the Assessor’s Office that led to the arrest of then Assessor John R. Noguez and four others. However, politics has been in my DNA since I was a child. I have worked on more than 300 political campaigns as a consultant and advisor since 1982 for candidates from all sides of the political spectrum including Democrats and Republicans, and even Libertarians. I am also a small business owner, serving as the President and CEO of Hot Water Studio & Production, LLC. My company works with media outlets across the state, nation, and world exposing public corruption via several new media platforms. I have also overcome personal challenges. I am legally blind with zero vision in my right eye and only 40 percent vision remaining in my left eye. I sometimes wear an eyepatch due to my failed vision. (Hence the nickname of “America’s Political Pirate.”