A man who allegedly threw Molotov cocktail-style bottle bombs at a Logan Heights police substation on two consecutive nights this week, causing minor damage, was behind bars Thursday.
Jose Luis Pena, 51, was arrested Wednesday evening while riding a bicycle near the site of the crimes, according to San Diego police.
About 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Pena allegedly set fire to a plastic bottle filled with a flammable liquid while standing at a trolley platform in the 2500 block of Commercial Street and hurled it at a parking structure at the nearby SDPD Central Division station, Lt. Julie Epperson said.
The incendiary device ignited some shrubbery, after which the arsonist fled, Epperson said. A few minutes later, however, he returned and tossed the same type of makeshift bomb into a parking lot at the police facility.
Firefighters were able to quickly douse both small blazes.
About 11 p.m. Monday, Pena allegedly returned to the neighborhood east of Interstate 5 and south of state Route 94, put a bottle filled with flammable liquid on a windowsill at the police station parking structure, lit it on fire and fled.
Central Division officers saw the resulting flames charring a section of the brick structure and put them out with a fire extinguisher, the lieutenant said.
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Pena was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of three counts of arson and three counts of illegal use of an incendiary device. He was being held on $75,000 bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Sept. 25.
