Palisades Fire live updates: Wildfires spread in Los Angeles, prompting mandatory evacuations, as Santa Ana winds expected to intensify
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If I was in charge, he would have to work/treated like a slave, until he's dead. I have no respect for a monster that caused such a nightmare.He who smelt it, dealt it.
Florida man ‘maliciously’ started Palisades fire, then tried to cover his tracks, authorities allege
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of starting the initial fire on New Year’s Day that rekindled to become the Palisades fire days later. He was arrested Wednesday in Florida and charged with destruction of property by means of fire, which carries a minimum of five years in federal prison.
Among the evidence collected from Rinderknecht’s digital devices was a dystopian image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city with people trying to flee, said Bill Essayli, acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, at a news conference Wednesday.
Rinderknecht called 911 to report the fire, then offered to help firefighters battle the blaze, according to an affidavit by an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Prosecutors accused Rinderknecht of lying about where he was when he made his first 911 call.
While some residents said they saw fireworks in the area on Jan. 1, authorities said they don’t believe fireworks were a factor in the initial fire, called the Lachman fire. Rinderknecht allegedly set the fire “maliciously” with an open flame — “likely a lighter” that ignited combustible material like vegetation or paper, according to the ATF agent’s affidavit. [I understand he had a long neck BBQ lighter in his car.]
He made “false statements” to investigators, prosecutors alleged, saying he first saw the fire after he left the Hidden Buddha clearing and walked down the trail toward his car. However, GPS data from his phone showed he was in the clearing when he first called 911.
Son of missionaries accused of setting destructive Palisades fire
They recall him as the shy and quiet son of missionaries, who could sometimes grow “bratty” or excited when challenged.
In the Hollywood neighborhood where he lived and worked as an Uber driver, one acquaintance described him as “a really nice guy.” Yet he was embroiled in an ugly legal conflict with a neighbor in his apartment complex that included accusations of abuse and drug use.
[Previously he lived in Palisades, near the fire's origin.]
The Skull Rock trailhead — which was cited in the government’s criminal complaint — was located just steps from their home, the old roommate said, and the pair would often hike the route.
In the fall of 2018 — before he lived in Hollywood — Rinderknecht and a girlfriend used Airbnb to rent a room in a San Fernando Valley home, according to the landlord, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of harassment.
As the weeks wore on, however, the landlord grew concerned. She overheard Rinderknecht speaking to his girlfriend, and said he was disrespectful, even cruel. She suspected that he was using illicit substances and that he was damaging her home’s walls and window blinds.
The landlord said that sometimes, she would overhear the girlfriend crying, or saying that her family wanted her to leave Rinderknecht and fly back home.
“He disregarded all the rules. If I said don’t do this, he’d be very upset and talk back to me,” the landlord recalled. “I called Airbnb to kick him out.”
[After kicking them out, she had $2,000 in repairs to deal with.]
According to public records and posts on social media, the 29-year-old has roots in Florida, Hollywood, Pacific Palisades and the south of France, where his parents did missionary work.
Rinderknecht’s mother, Jennifer, is originally from Florida, according to Pastor Shawn Hurley with Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio. His father, Joel, is a French citizen, and the couple live in France.
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