Palisades Fire Suspect Indicted On 2 New Charges

The man accused of deliberately setting the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, of Melbourne, Florida, is charged with destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment includes the original charge announced by prosecutors last week — destruction of property by means of fire — in addition to two additional felonies.

Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli at the time said "we wanted to arrest him, get him into custody" before presenting the case to the grand jury for consideration of additional charges.

• Read more: 5 Things To Know About The Uber Driver Accused Of Setting The Palisades Fire And The Case Against Him

If convicted as charged, Rinderknecht would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 45 years behind bars, according to prosecutors.

Rinderknecht has been in federal custody since he was arrested at his Florida home Oct. 7. He's set to be arraigned in the coming weeks in downtown Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.

The Palisades Fire broke out Jan. 7 in the coastal Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, burned 23,448 acres — over 36 square miles — and destroyed much of the community, killing 12 people. It destroyed 6,800 structures and damaged 1,000 more.

Rinderknecht is accused of setting a fire one week earlier. The eight-to-10-acre brush fire — dubbed the Lachman Fire — was contained by firefighters, but it smoldered underground in a hiking area adjacent to hillside homes and eventually reignited into what would become the Palisades Fire.

Rinderknecht, who was living in the Palisades at the time, had finished shift as an Uber driver on New Year's Eve before setting the fire, prosecutors claim.

He drove up into the far northern reaches of the Palisades — near where he once lived — and walked up a hiking trail. He's accused of setting the fire "with an open flame," according to Essayli.

The evidence against Rinderknecht includes iPhone videos, GPS location data and interviews. Prosecutors claim he had previously used ChatGPT to render an image of a "dystopian city burning down."

• Read a breakdown of the case against Rinderknecht