A man was sentenced Friday, Feb. 13, to 10 years in prison for starting the massive fire that tore through the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel five years ago, causing damages estimated at $9 million.
Judge Karla D. Kerlin told John David Corey, whose moniker is “Joker,” that he must register as an arsonist after he is released. She also ordered him to pay restitution. The amount was not yet determined.
Corey, now 62, pleaded no contest on Aug. 22, 2025 to one felony count of arson of a structure. He also admitted the special allegation that he used an accelerant, dry cleaning fluid, to start the fire.
Of the 10-year sentence, seven years is for the arson. The judge gave Corey a total credit of 3,301 days — nine years and 16 days — which includes the time he spent in custody.
Corey asked Kerlin if there was a way he could serve his sentence in county jail. His attorney also told the court he is a transient and didn’t think Corey has the means to pay court fines and fees.
“I don’t have funds at all,” Corey said.
During his sentencing held at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Corey also raised his hands to cover his face and told the judge he didn’t want to be photographed.
The church at 429 S. Junipero Serra Drive is the fourth of the California missions and was founded on Sept. 8, 1771. The fire began shortly before 4:30 a.m. on July 11, 2020 and grew into a massive blaze that destroyed the roof. One firefighter was injured.
Firefighters stopped the fire before it reached the altar, museum and the rectory.
When interviewed, Corey talked about his relationship with the church, that he was homeless and had been there for lunch, Jason Sutliff, who investigated the case, said after the sentencing.
Sutliff is a fire captain and arson investigator with the San Marino Fire Department. San Marino is among the cities that belong to the Verdugo Fire Investigation Task Force.
Corey didn’t offer a motive for the fire, he said.
“We still don’t have a clear motive why he did it,” Sutliff said.
Corey first started a fire outside the choir loft door but it failed, he said. Corey came back about 30 minutes later. He broke into the church through a dilapidated door that led to the second-floor choir loft, said Zara Lockshin, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“Once inside, he poured a liquid accelerant (possibly dry cleaning fluid) on the floor of the choir loft, and also on an interior staircase,” she said, adding Corey possibly used a camping torch to start the fire.
On July 12, 2020, a day after the church fire, Corey tried to set fire to a business on the 500 block of West Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel.
Officers responded to a report of a man “dispensing an unknown liquid at the location” and detained Corey, who was nearby, San Gabriel police said. He was questioned and released. Police arrested him on July 13, 2020 on suspicion of setting the business fire.
Corey became a person of interest in the church fire because he was arrested with an accelerant a day after and was found within walking distance of the church, according to Sutliff.
He later became a suspect.
A Ring video showed someone getting into the church. Another camera then recorded the person walking away and it was Corey, Sutliff said.
Court records show Corey pleaded no contest to attempted arson for the July 12 incident on Las Tunas Drive and was sentenced on Sept. 1, 2020 to three years in prison.
In May 2021, authorities announced they had charged him with the church fire.
The restored Mission San Gabriel Arcángel reopened in 2023.
Corey has a record of starting fires.
In 2016, he was arrested for setting fire to a dilapidated structure at a construction site on the 200 block of South Arroyo Drive in San Gabriel, police said. Corey, who got minor injuries, pleaded no contest to unlawfully causing a fire and was sentenced to three years in county jail, according to court records.
He also started a fire inside a restaurant on the 900 block of West Las Tunas Drive on March 11, 2015, which caused minor property damage, police said. He pleaded no contest to unlawfully causing a fire of a property and received three years probation and 50 days in county jail.