Jonathan Rinderknecht charged with LA Pacific Palisades fire setting
Chimneys stand among rubble after the passage of the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 8, 2025.
Agustin Paullier | AFP | Getty Images
Federal authorities announced Wednesday that they had arrested a Florida man and charged him with maliciously starting the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive blazes in Los Angeles history.
Jonathan rinderknechtA 29-year-old man is charged with destruction of property by fire. release It’s from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which filed a lawsuit against him.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Rinderknecht, who allegedly ignited the inferno in the early hours of New Year’s Eve, “was listening to a rap song that contained a music video featuring things being burned on fire.”
“Rindeknecht listened to the song many times in the previous days,” the office said.
Rinderknecht, who previously lived in Pacific Palisades, California, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday.
The Melbourne resident appeared before a federal court judge in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday and was ordered held in temporary custody without bail until another hearing there on Thursday.
The Palisades Fire, which occurred in early January, burned thousands of homes and killed 12 people as flames spread rapidly with winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour.
If convicted, Rinderknecht could face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a statutory maximum of 20 years.
In a statement Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the arrest “an important step toward uncovering how the terrible Palisades Fire began and bringing closure to the lives of thousands of Californians whose lives were disrupted.”
“This tragedy will never be forgotten; lives were lost, families were torn apart, and entire communities were changed forever — and there must be accountability,” Newsom said.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli released a photo of the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, on a criminal complaint accusing him of maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire in January.
Source: @USAttyEssayli | X
Authorities said witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene indicate that Rinderknecht maliciously started the Lachman Fire just after midnight Jan. 1 on land owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, an agency that receives federal funding.
A week later, the same fire, then known as the Palisades Fire, burned federal property.
“The complaint alleges that a single person’s carelessness led to one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” Acting LAUS Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. he said.
“While we cannot bring back what the victims lost, we hope that this criminal case will bring some justice to those affected by this terrible tragedy,” Essayli said. he said.
One to mail In X, Essayli said evidence was found on Rinderknecht’s digital devices showing “an image depicting a burning city that he created on ChatGPT.”
A monitor shows AI-generated images found on the computer of a Florida man arrested on charges of intentionally igniting the Pacific Palisades Fire; Acting United States Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli and Special Agent in Charge Kenny Cooper of the Los Angeles Field Division Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during a press conference at their offices in Los Angeles, California, USA. 8, 2025.
Daniel Cole | Reuters
The devastating fire started on the evening of December 31, when Rinderknecht was working a shift as an Uber driver.
Two passengers he was driving in separate vehicles later told law enforcement they remembered Rinderknecht as “agitated and angry,” according to the statement.
Authorities said Rinderknecht parked his car at the Skulls Rock trailhead after dropping off a passenger in the area and tried to contact an old friend. He then walked down the path and used his iPhone to take a video.
Shortly after midnight on January 1, environmental detection platforms indicated the start of the Lachman Fire. According to the statement, Rinderknecht called 911 several times in the following minutes, but could not reach him because his cell phone was out of coverage.
The statement stated that he reached the end of the hiking trail when he called 911 and reported shots fired. A resident had already reported the fire at that point.
“Rindeknecht then fled with his car, passing fire trucks going in the opposite direction,” the statement said. The statement was included.
He then turned around and accelerated to follow the fire trucks, recording more video of the scene on his phone, authorities said.
Law enforcement interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24.
He allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire, claiming that he “was at the bottom of the hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911.”
“But geolocation data from the iPhone operator showed that he was standing in a clearing 100 feet away from the fire as the fire grew rapidly,” according to the news release.
