Santa Ana mobile home park arson suspect taken into custody

A man suspected of lighting a fire at the Gable Estates mobile home park in Santa Ana has been taken into custody.

Santa Ana police say on April 18 shortly after 8:30 a.m. 44-year-old Ruben Valdez Garcia was captured on surveillance video from the complex walking up to an inhabited mobile home where he lit two large bushes on fire that were located along the west side of the mobile home.

The fire spread causing the front of the home to catch fire. Fortunately, the home's two residents were able to escape unharmed.

On April 19, 2019, at about 1:45 p.m., an area resident called Santa Ana police to report Garcia was walking southbound in the 700 block o South Harbor Boulevard. Police took him into custody four blocks away and was booked into Santa Ana Police Department Jail for arson.

Garcia lives at the Gable Estates mobile home park, according to authorities. He had not returned home since the fires.