Man accused of maliciously igniting Palisades fire faces new charges, up to 45 years in prison
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- Jonathan Rinderknecht, accused of starting a January firestorm, faces decades in prison.
- A federal grand jury indicted the former Pacific Palisades resident Wednesday, charging him with two more felonies on top of an arson charge filed earlier this month.
The man accused of intentionally igniting the devastating Palisades fire, which killed a dozen people, has been indicted on three felony charges and faces the prospect of up to 45 years in prison, authorities said.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was arrested Oct. 7 and charged with destruction of property by means of fire for allegedly starting a blaze in Temescal Canyon on New Year’s Day that went on to become the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
On Wednesday, Rinderknecht was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with two additional felonies — one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Palisades fire scorched 23,400 acres — an area roughly 1.5 times the size of Manhattan — and leveled more than 6,800 structures.
Rinderknecht is the son of Baptist missionaries and a former resident of Pacific Palisades who was living in Florida at the time of his arrest. He is scheduled to be arraigned in the coming weeks.
Rinderknecht’s attorney Steve Haney said Thursday there is no direct evidence linking the fire Rinderknecht is accused of starting on New Year’s Day to the Palisades fire, which started six days later and, Haney argued, could have been caused by many other variables.
He accused prosecutors of using Rinderknecht as a scapegoat, calling the government’s case “full of problems.”
In the Hollywood neighborhood where he lived and worked as an Uber driver, one acquaintance described suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht as ‘a really nice guy.’
If convicted as charged, he faces a federal prison sentence ranging from a mandatory minimum of five years to a statutory maximum of 45 years, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement determined that the Palisades fire was a continuation of a small blaze called the Lachman fire, which was suppressed by firefighters on Jan. 1 but continued to smolder within the root structure of dense vegetation before reigniting amid fierce Santa Ana winds on Jan. 7.
Prosecutors allege that Rinderknecht maliciously started the Lachman fire near Skull Rock just after midnight on New Year’s Day after working a shift as an Uber driver. Law enforcement used witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns to determine that Rinderknecht was responsible for the ignition, prosecutors said.
Investigators found an AI-generated image of a burning city with people trying to flee on Rinderknecht’s iPhone, according to Bill Essayli, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
The revelations — unveiled in a criminal complaint and attached affidavit Wednesday charging the alleged arsonist, Jonathan Rinderknecht — raise questions about what the Los Angeles Fire Department could have done to prevent the conflagration.
Two Uber passengers whom Rinderknecht drove on separate trips between 10:15 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. on New Year’s Eve told law enforcement that he appeared angry and agitated.
After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, he parked near Skull Rock Trailhead and walked up the trail while listening to a brooding French rap song whose music video shows trash on fire, prosecutors allege.
Rinderknecht’s parents live in France, where his father is a citizen, according to Shawn Hurley, a pastor with Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio, who has known the family for 30 years.
Rinderknecht has also spent time in France, but was living in a Hollywood apartment at the time he allegedly started the Lachman fire. Environmental sensors first detected that blaze at 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Within the next five minutes, Rinderknecht attempted dialing 911 several times but could not get through until he arrived at the bottom of the trail and regained cellphone service, prosecutors said. By that time, a nearby resident had already contacted authorities.
Rinderknecht told law enforcement that he first saw the fire from the bottom of the trail; however, data from his iPhone showed that he was standing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, prosecutors allege.
The Los Angeles Fire Department, which been criticized for failing to pre-deploy adequate resources during the fire-weather conditions when the Palisades fire ignited, is now facing scrutiny over whether it could have done more to prevent the rekindling of the Lachman fire.
Times staff writer Nathan Solis and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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