Jonathan Rinderknecht accused of turning the fire of the Pacific Palisades

Federal authorities announced on Wednesday that they have arrested and charged a man from Florida for maliciously triggered the deadly fire of the Palisades, one of the most destructive fires in the history of Los Angeles.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of destruction of fire property, according to a press release from the Los Angeles US prosecutor who pursues him.

Just after pretending to trigger the fire at the start of the New Year, Rinderknecht “listened to a rap song, which contains a video clip that includes things on fire,” said the American prosecutor’s office.

“Rinderknecht listened to the song several times the previous days,” said the office.

Rinderknecht, who previously lived in Pacific Palisades, California, was arrested Tuesday in Florida.

The resident of Melbourne should appear before the Federal Tribunal of Orlando, Florida, later Wednesday.

The fire of the Palisades in early January burned thousands of houses and killed 12 people while the flames quickly spread to strong winds of up to 100 miles per hour.

If Rinderknecht is found guilty, he risks a compulsory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum legal sentence of 20 years.

The authorities said that witness statements, video surveillance, mobile phones and the analysis of dynamics and fire schemes have shown that Rinderknecht had malfunctioned Lachman fire by January 1 on land belonging to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Author, an organization that received federal funding.

A week later, the same fire – now known as the palisades fire – burned a federal property.

“The complaint alleges that the imprudence of a single person caused one of the worst fires that Los Angeles has ever experienced, causing dead and general destruction to Pacific Palisades,” said the acting lawyer for Laus, Bill Essayli, in a statement.

“Even if we cannot return what the victims have lost, we hope that this criminal affair will bring some justice to the people affected by this horrible tragedy,” said Essayli.

In an article on X, Essayli said that evidence had been found on Rinderknecht’s digital devices showing “an image he generated on Chatgpt representing a fire city”.

The destructive fire broke out in the evening of December 31, while Rinderknecht worked as a Uber driver.

According to the press release, two passengers which he led to separate journeys then declared to the police that they remembered Rinderknecht as “agitated and angry”.

After Rinderknecht placed a passenger in the region, he went to the start of the Skulls Rock path, where he parked his car and tried to contact a former friend, the authorities said. He then traveled the trail and used his iPhone to take videos.

Shortly after midnight on January 1, environmental detection platforms said Lachman’s fire started. In the minutes that followed, Rinderknecht called 911 on several occasions, but as he was out of the reach of his mobile phone, he could not reach him, according to the press release.

As he contacted 911 and reported the shot, he had arrived at the end of the hiking trail, the press release said. A resident had already pointed out the fire at that time.

“Rinderknecht then fled in his car, going beyond the fire trucks circulating in the opposite direction,” said the press release.

The authorities said that he had then turned around and accelerated to follow the fire trucks to the scene, where he had recorded other videos from the scene from his phone.

The police interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24.

He would have lied to the place where he was when he saw Lachman’s fire for the first time, saying “that he was near a hiking trail when he saw the fire for the first time and called 911”.

“But the geolocation data of his iPhone showed that he was held in a clearing 30 feet from the fire when he grew up quickly,” said the press release.