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LOS ANGELES (CN) — A Southern California man who worked at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario was charged with burning down the 1.2 million square-feet facility and causing an estimated $500 million in damage.
Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland, is charged with arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said Friday. Separately, the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office charged him on Thursday with six counts of arson of a structure and one count of aggravated arson.
An Instagram video was posted to Abdulkarim’s account of someone setting fire to multiple pallets stacked with paper products in the early morning hours of April 7. The person in the video is heard saying “if you’re not going to pay us enough to fucking live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this shit.”
Prosecutors say that after the warehouse was set ablaze, Abdulkarim called a friend and told her “a lot of people are going to understand” and then compared the fire to when “Luigi popped that mutherfucker,” referring to Luigi Mangione who has been charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York.
The friend, who wasn’t identified in the criminal complaint, had reportedly received texts from Abdulkarim shortly before the fire in which he said he wanted to “say goodbye.” She called the Ontario police to request a wellness check for Abdulkarim and told the police that he worked at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse.
While the fire was raging, police officers encountered Abdulkarim walking on the sidewalk about two miles from the warehouse. When asked where he worked, he said “that fire shit right there” and told the officers “I’m confessing,” according to prosecutors.
Information on Adbulkarim’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
If convicted on the federal charges, he faces a minimum of five years in prison and a statutory maximum of 20 years.
The enormous blaze destroyed the entire warehouse in the city about 35 miles east of downtown LA. The fire was called in around 12:30 a.m., but 45 minutes later the entire building was engulfed in flames. The 18 employees working that night were evacuated safely.
About 175 firefighters from 14 agencies responded to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to nearby buildings.
Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, said earlier this week that the distribution center in Ontario was operated by a third-party logistics partner, NFI Industries. There weren’t any of its own employees at the site during the fire, according to the company.
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