Mother of L.A. Arson Suspect Facing Extradition Hearing

The mother of a man suspected of setting dozens of fires in Hollywood, West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley over New Year's weekend will face an extradition hearing today.

Dorothee Burkhart, 53, is fighting extradition to her native Germany, where she is wanted on a host of fraud charges.

Attorneys for both sides are expected to argue before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick, who rejected a request to free Burkhart on bail pending today's proceedings.

The woman has described herself as the sole link between her "mentally ill" son, Harry, and "the outside world." Her 24-year-old son faces trial on dozens of arson-related charges stemming from the series of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over four nights at the start of the year.

"I was the person who was the bridge between the outside world and the inside of his brain," Burkhart said at a previous hearing.

Her arrest pending extradition is thought to have sparked the arson rampage allegedly committed by her distraught son, her only child. See previous stories:

An attorney for Harry Burkhart asked Eick in court papers last week to temporarily suspend the extradition proceedings on the grounds that the mother is a key witness in her son's case.

Dorothee Burkhart is accused in Frankfurt of subletting apartments that she did not own, failing to pay rent and security deposits on other locations, and defrauding a cosmetic surgeon out of about $10,000 for breast augmentation surgery for which she never paid, according to court papers.

The extradition process can take upward of a year, federal prosecutors said. It took about four months to extradite former TV producer Bruce Beresford- Redman to Mexico to face charges for the killing of his wife -- an unusually short amount of time because Beresford-Redman decided not to appeal the judge's extradition order.     

Harry Burkhart faces 100 felony charges related to 49 blazes set between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2. Most of the fires began in automobiles but usually spread to homes in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and surrounding areas.

His bail has been set at $7.5 million. A trial date has not been set.