Rabbi's son arrested in synagogue fires Richmond blaze caused $200,000 damage
Stacy Finz, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers Friday, May 14, 2004
The son of a San Francisco rabbi has been arrested on suspicion of setting fires that damaged his father's home-based Chabad House in the Richmond District and for allegedly stealing the synagogue's Torah, authorities said Thursday.
Avi Langer, 33, was arrested Wednesday at his apartment in Santa Clara after two fires broke out in the middle of the day a half-hour apart at separate ends of the four-level residence on the 2900 block of Anza Street, which doubles as a synagogue. Damage totaled $200,000.
The rabbi and his wife, Yosef and Hinda Langer, and three houseguests were displaced by the fires. No one was injured.
Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and investigators with the Santa Clara County arson task force arrested Avi Langer at the request of San Francisco police.
He was booked on suspicion of arson, possession of flammable materials, burglary, grand theft and possession of stolen property. The stolen property was the synagogue's Torah, the first five books of Moses, which are kept sacred at the synagogue.
Langer was being held without bail pending an arraignment scheduled for today.
Yosef Langer told authorities that his son has a history of mental illness. The rabbi could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Langer has held weekly services at Chabad House since 1989. He and his wife were a few blocks away at the Shalom School at 25th Avenue when the fires started.
