CONCORD – A network of legal advocacy groups launched a public-pressure campaign this week urging prosecutors to charge a man with the September arson of a Sikh family’s home. “We believe race was a motivating factor. To what degree, it’s hard to say,” said attorney Edwin Prather, who represents the Anand family. “I think it’s safe to say his anger toward the Anands was a primary motivating factor.” Mark Peterson, a deputy Contra Costa district attorney and also a Concord City Council member, said Tuesday that investigators could not prove that 39-year-old Gregg Ogan set the fire on Babel Lane on Sept. 5 or that he committed a hate crime. “There was not sufficient evidence to file criminal charges. That was the conclusion after we reviewed the case initially,” Peterson said. “Now we’re investigating some evidence that (the Anand family’s attorney) has submitted.” Prather agreed that the case does not meet the legal definition of a hate crime, but a coalition including the South Asian Bar Association, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund wants prosecutors to file arson and burglary charges. The advocacy groups have organized a candlelight vigil in front of the Anands’ house, at 1356 Babel Lane, at 7:30 p.m. today, as well as a letter-writing campaign that so far has generated about 100 letters urging the District Attorney’s Office to file charges against Ogan, Prather said. Ogan appeared in court in an unrelated criminal case Tuesday. He could not be reached at County Jail in Richmond to answer an interview request. The Anands say Ogan appeared on their doorstep Sept. 3. He said he was helping a neighbor move but that utilities to the neighbor’s home were cut off, they say. The Anands cooked for him and offered him use of their phone for the next two days, but they soon became wary of his loitering around and some of his comments that they felt were racially offensive, Prather said. When he showed up Sept. 5, Gurcharanjeet Singh Anand told Ogan that the family had no time to help that morning because they were going to temple. Ogan appeared angry, Prather said. Half an hour later, someone called Anand to tell him his house was on fire. Police and fire investigators found that the house had been burglarized and a fire deliberately set in more than one place. An enclosed shrine in the back yard was also burglarized and vandalized, Prather said. “We lost everything. Everything we’ve had since we came to this country 22 years ago burned. It shattered our life,” Anand said Tuesday. “I am not still young any more. I have a heart condition. … It’s not so easy to start over.” Concord police arrested Ogan on Sept. 6 a few blocks from the arson scene. Officers responding to a report of a suspicious person hanging around the neighborhood stopped him, according to police reports. Police found methamphetamine on Ogan and, on the side of a nearby house, spotted a plastic trash bag containing items reported missing from the Anand house, according to the reports. The Anands and their five children now live in temporary housing while they wait for repairs to their home of 14 years. Peterson said his office would probably make a decision about whether to file related charges against Ogan in the next two weeks.
