A 29-year-old Uber driver has been arrested in connection to the Palisades Fires that decimated Los Angeles and destroyed thousands of homes in January.
Jonathan Rinderknecht was charged with ‘maliciously’ starting the catastrophic fire, according to Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli.
‘The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht’s started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year’s Day — a blaze that eventually turned into one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history, causing death and widespread destruction,’ Essayli said.
‘Among the evidence that was collected from his digital devices was an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city.’
Officials said they believe the Palisades Fire was a ‘holdover fire’ – a continuation of the Lachman Fire allegedly started by Rinderknecht.
Rinderknecht was arrested on Florida, according to officials. His first court appearance is scheduled for today at 1.30pm in Orlando.
He was charged with destruction of property by means of fire – a felony that carries a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence and is punishable by up to 20 years.
The fire that erupted on January 7 killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes and buildings in the Pacific Palisades, a wealthy coastal neighborhood of LA.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was charged with starting the Palisades Fires that decimated Los Angeles
Among the evidence that was collected from his digital devices was an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city,’ officials said
A wildfire breaks out near Pacific Palisades on the west side of Los Angeles during a weather driven windstorm in Southern California
A-listers such as Paris Hilton and Tom Hanks lost their mansions in the fires.
Rinderknecht is a former resident of the Palisades and allegedly lit the fire with an open flame – likely a lighter – after he completed an Uber ride, per the criminal complaint.
The complaint against Rinderknecht says the two of his Uber passengers on the night of December 31, 2024, said he seemed agitated and angry.
Detectives said that at about 11.28pm the same night, Rinderknecht listened to a song by French artist Josman with ‘themes of despair and bitterness.’ The music video for the song shows Josman lightings things on fire.
The suspect had allegedly listened to the same song nine times in four days, and watched the music video three times over the same time period.
Rinderknecht made several unsuccessful 911 calls repeatedly on January 1st after starting the fire, officials said.
Rinderknecht fled the scene of the original fire, but returned to the same trail where he’d been earlier to watch it burn, Essayli said. During an interview with investigators, he lied about his location, claiming he was near the bottom of the hiking trail, Essayli said.
Authorities first interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24, according to the criminal complaint. He told them he had been in the area on Jan. 1 and did not see anyone else in the area at that time.
Investigators excluded other possibilities including fireworks, lightning and power lines. Authorities also looked into whether a cigarette could’ve caused the fire, but concluded that was not the cause, the complaint says.
Firefighters run as a brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades, California
Paris Hilton lost her beachfront mansion in Malibu in the fires. It was not her main residence
An oceanfront Malibu home owned by the socialite was ‘burned to a crisp.’ Pictured before the fires
The arrest comes after an outside review released in September found that a lack of resources and outdated policies for sending emergency alerts led to delayed evacuation warnings during the deadly fires.
The report commissioned by Los Angeles County supervisors said a series of weaknesses, including ‘outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,’ hampered the county’s response.
The Associated Press found that the first evacuation order covering neighborhoods closest to the start of the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire didn’t come until about 40 minutes after some of those homes were already burning.
The wildfire, the most destructive in California history, had spread rapidly in ornamental plantings and burning homes by 11:27am on January 7, recordings of scanner traffic reveal.
So many people fled on their own, as wind-whipped flames raced over the nearby hills, that by the time officials issued the order to evacuate at 12:07pm, traffic was gridlocked.
Authorities eventually urged people to exit their cars and leave on foot, and then used a bulldozer to clear away abandoned vehicles and make way for fire crews.
Despite the timing of the order, nearly all the residents of Pacific Palisades made it to safety — a relief that some attributed to the hyper-awareness of fire danger in a region frequently scarred by it, the efforts of first responders, the initiative that many took to evacuate on their own, and the fact that the fire broke out in broad daylight, when those nearby were awake to notice it.
The time lag is one of several issues that may have complicated the fire response. With the severe winds preventing aerial firefighting, water hydrants ran dry amid unprecedented demand.
A reservoir near Pacific Palisades was empty because it needed repairs. Top Los Angeles Fire Department commanders decided not to deploy roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines in advance, the Los Angeles Times reported.
