Uber Driver Arrested for Igniting Palisades Fire
Jonathan Rinderknecht, the suspect accused of starting the Palisades Fire
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, has been arrested for starting the Palisades Fire, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Rinderknecht, who on New Year’s Eve had just completed a passenger dropoff in the neighborhood, was the sole person near the origin of the holdover fire, which he is accused of purposefully igniting just after midnight, according to the ATF. The fire, which first became known as the Lachman Fire, was thought by firefighters to be extinguished, but it smoldered underground within the root structure of dense vegetation and then broke out again as the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7.
Rinderknecht, also known as Jonathan or Jon Rinder, is a former Pacific Palisades resident who moved to Melbourne, Florida, at some point after starting the fire, according to officials. He was arrested Tuesday and was charged with destruction of property by means of fire.
“The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
Cellphone data places Rinderknecht at the origin of the Lachman Fire, according to the ATF. Fireworks, which had previously been a suspected cause, were not involved.
Witness statements, video surveillance, and an analysis of fire dynamics and patterns are part of the evidence against the suspect, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“Two passengers that he drove on separate trips between 10:15 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. … [on New Year’s Eve] later told law enforcement they remembered that Rinderknecht appeared agitated and angry,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Rinderknecht, who once lived in that neighborhood, drove towards Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend, and walked up the trail. He then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song—to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days—whose music video included things being lit on fire.”
The name of that song is reportedly “Un Zder, Un Thé” by the French artist Josman.
At 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, environmental sensing platforms indicated that the fire had ignited, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Over the next five minutes, Rinderknecht made several unsuccessful calls to 911 with an iPhone that was out of cellphone range. At the bottom of the hiking trail, he reached a 911 operator and reported the fire, which had already been reported by a nearby resident.
Rinderknecht then drove off, passing fire engines arriving from the opposite direction. He turned around and followed the fire engines “at a high rate of speed,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Rinderknecht then re-hiked the same trail and at 1:02 a.m. used his iPhone to take videos of the fire.
On Jan. 24, Rinderknecht falsely claimed to law enforcement that he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the Lachman Fire and called 911, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Instead, his phone carrier’s geolocation data showed that he was in a clearing 30 feet from the rapidly spreading fire.
The complaint against Rinderknecht will first be presented to a grand jury after which more charges may be added, according to the ATF.
If convicted of the current complaint, Rinderknecht would face between a mandatory minimum sentence of five years to a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
