Pang Discussed Warehouse Arson, Ex-Girlfriend Says

Pam Pendleton’s romance with arson-murder suspect Martin Pang began with a personal ad, and he mentioned the possibility of arranging an arson fire to destroy his parents’ warehouse within a month, she says.

Pang fled the country in February as investigators probed his involvement in the Jan. 5 blaze that killed four firefighters at the Mary Pang Food Products warehouse. He was arrested Thursday in Brazil, and efforts are under way to return him for trial on arson and first-degree murder charges.

KING-TV reported Monday night that Pang has confessed to U.S. authorities that he was involved in the crime. It was unclear what level of involvement he admitted to, KING said.

Under state sentencing guidelines, a first-degree murder conviction carries a penalty of 20 years to life imprisonment. But under Brazilian law covering extradition, his penalty would be limited to that allowed under the laws of that country - a maximum of 30 years.

“We don’t have any word that would be the case,” spokesman Dan Donohoe at the King County prosecutor’s office said Monday.

Pendleton was living in California’s San Fernando Valley when her mother urged her to try meeting someone through the personal ads.

According to a copyright story in Monday’s Seattle Times, she followed up on an headlined “Romantic in Seattle” that described a “single, Asian male … honest, caring, loves the beach, skiing.”

She and Pang dated for three months before he moved into her house last May. Pendleton says she told him to move out in late June because he was verbally abusive and possessive.

Pendleton, 33, doesn’t remember exactly when Pang first mentioned the warehouse.

“It had to have been three or four weeks into our relationship,” she told The Times on Friday.

Pang said his parents’ 30-year-old frozen-Chinese-food business was going downhill, Pendleton recalled. Pang - a Hong Kong native adopted by Harry and Mary Pang of Seattle at infancy - thought the family should sell the property or launch another business at the site.

“He never said that he would personally burn it down,” she said. “He said he would have somebody do it. He knew people who could take care of it.”

She didn’t believe he was serious.

“He made all kinds of different threats of things that didn’t happen,” said Pendleton, business manager at a car dealership.

“He basically lied to me about everything,” she told The Times, noting that he did not tell her he had been divorced four times.

Pendleton says she didn’t know about the fire until mid-January, when she was contacted by a Times reporter.

When she was told of the firefighters’ deaths, Pendleton began crying.

“Oh, my God,” she said. “You might want to have the police call me.”

At the request of Seattle police, Pendleton was interviewed by ATF agents in California.

She was quoted anonymously in The Times stories Feb. 8 and March 5, but refused to be quoted by name.