Fbi Coerced Confession, Pang Says

Martin Pang, charged in a Seattle arson that killed four firefighters, told a federal judge Friday that FBI agents forced him to confess setting fire to his parents’ warehouse last Jan. 5.

“I am innocent,” Pang told federal judge Marilena Soares Reis Franco in his first court appearance since his arrest here in March.

The 39-year-old Pang, who faces extradition, said FBI agents coerced him into signing a confession at Federal Police headquarters, out of earshot of Brazilian authorities. He said he was not beaten or physically abused in any way.

“The agents said if I signed the confession they would take the pressure off my family and help keep the press away from me,” Pang told the judge.

He said Seattle police were tapping the phones of family members and conducting a campaign of pressure.

During a 40-minute hearing, Pang likened himself to Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson, saying he was being made a “scapegoat” by the news media.