Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced on Wednesday that Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, had been arrested “on a criminal complaint charging him with maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire in January.”
“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 in a post on X.
Donation records from the Federal Election Commission show that a man, with the same name as the suspect, donated a total of two dollars to Biden’s presidential campaign.
Records show that Rinderknecht donated one dollar on September 4, 2020 and one dollar on September 11, 2020.
The New York Post reported that Rinderknecht was “registered to vote in Florida,” but that he never “declared a political party.”
Breitbart News reported that the “fire was sparked on 7 January near a popular hiking trail overlooking the wealthy coastal neighbourhood.”:
The fire was sparked on 7 January near a popular hiking trail overlooking the wealthy coastal neighbourhood.
The Eaton Fire, ignited the same day in the Los Angeles area, killed another 19 people and destroyed about 9,400 structures, officials said. The cause of that fire remains unclear, the BBC report notes.
Rinderknecht was arrested in Florida and has been charged with destruction of property by means of fire, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told the press conference in Los Angeles.
The blaze became the most destructive inferno in Los Angeles history.
Reuters reported that Rinderknecht allegedly “recorded videos on his phone of firefighters attempting to extinguish the blaze.”
A criminal complaint revealed that while on a phone call with 911, Rinderknecht also allegedly asked ChatGPT if a person was “at fault if a fire is lift” due to their cigarettes. ChatGPT reportedly said “Yes,” according to the outlet.
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