Grand jury indicts man suspected of starting deadly Palisades Fire

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned an indictment against a Florida man who was arrested a week ago on suspicion he started the massive wildfire that largely destroyed the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles at the start of the year.

The indictment charges Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire, the U.S. attorney’s office in LA said in an announcement.

If convicted on all counts, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a statutory maximum sentence of 45 years in federal prison.

A federal judge in Florida last week ordered that Rinderknecht will remain in jail while he awaits his transfer to LA to answer the charges. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the indictment.

The Palisades Fire erupted Jan. 7 and, driven by extreme winds, quickly engulfed the affluent neighborhood overlooking the Pacific Ocean. By the time it was fully contained on Jan. 31, it had become the worst natural disaster in LA’s history, destroying 6,837 structures and killing 12 people.

Investigators now believe that the fire was caused by a so-called holdover fire that Rinderknecht is accused of having started on Jan. 1, near a trail in the mountains above the residential streets of the Pacific Palisades. Although firefighters quickly extinguished this fire, it reportedly turned out to have continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation.

When on Jan. 7 the area was hit by the strongest windstorm in more than a decade, the smoldering fire in the dry vegetation turned into a massive conflagration that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee their multimillion-dollar homes and abandon their cars in the narrow gridlocked roads leading out of the secluded enclave.

Federal prosecutors say that Rinderknecht, who previously had lived in the Pacific Palisades himself, had been working as an Uber driver on New Year’s Eve. Two passengers who rode on separate trips with him that night told investigators later that he had appeared angry and agitated.

After dropping off a passenger in the Pacific Palisades, prosecutors say Rinderknecht drove towards the Skull Rock Trailhead, a popular hiking spot above the neighborhood. He walked up the trail shortly after midnight, used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song, the music video of which includes things being lit on fire.

At 12:12 a.m. environmental sensing platforms indicated that a fire has started near where Rinderknecht was at that moment. Prosecutors says he called 911 several times, but didn’t get through because there was no reception on the trail. When he finally connected with 911, he had descended down the trail and reported the fire. By that point, a nearby resident already had reported the fire to authorities.

Rinderknecht, according to investigators, fled in his car and passed the fire engines driving in the opposite direction. He then turned around and followed the fire engines to the scene, driving at a high rate of speed. He walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and the firefighters. At approximately 1:02 a.m., he reportedly used his iPhone to take more videos of the scene.

The Palisades firestorm happened alongside another massive blaze in the Altadena neighborhood, which was similarly destroyed. The fires are estimated to have caused more than $250 billion in economic damage, making them the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history. Cleaning up and rebuilding the devastated parts of the city is expected to take years.

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