Uber Driver Purposely Started Fire That Destroyed Thousands Of Palisades And Malibu Homes: DOJ

Authorities have arrested a 29-year-old Uber driver in connection to the investigation into the deadly January Palisades Fire.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, of Melbourne, Florida, was arrested Tuesday near his home on suspicion of destruction of property by means of fire. If convicted as charged, Rinderknecht faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison.

"He is charged with starting a fire on Jan. 1," Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. "It did take a week to reignite, but he is charged with starting the Palisades Fire."

The criminal complaint covers the damages and death from the Palisades Fire. Rinderknecht may face additional charges: "We wanted to arrest him, get him into custody. We're going to present the case to a grand jury" for consideration of other charges, Essayli said.

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

Essayli, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Kenny Cooper held a news conference Wednesday at the Old U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles to announce the arrest.

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-1-acre brush fire — dubbed the Lachman Fire — was contained by firefighters, but it smoldered underground near Skull Rock and eventually reignited into what would become the Palisades Fire.

Rinderknecht, who was living in the Palisades at the time, was finishing his shift as an Uber driver on New Year's Eve. Two passengers interviewed by authorities said he had been "agitated and angry" that night, Essayli said. The passengers traveled in Rinderknecht's car separately between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m., according to the criminal complaint.

After dropping a passenger off in a residential area on Palisades Drive at 11:34 p.m., Rinderknecht — driving alone — headed eastbound up Palisades Drive toward the Skull Rock trailhead in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, according to the complaint, which states the plaintiff's drive was caught on video.

At 11:38 p.m., Rinderknecht parked at the trailhead and "attempted to contact a former friend" via Facebook Messenger, which did not connect. The friend had previously lived with Rinderknecht in a house a block away from the trail entrance, according to the complaint.

He then walked up a hiking trail to an area dubbed the Hidden Buddha Clearing. At around 11:54 p.m., he listened to a rap song — “Un Zder, Un The" by the French artist Josman. "A theme of the song is despair and bitterness," reads the criminal complaint, and the music video shows Josman lighting things on fire.

Rinderknecht had listened to the song several times in the days around the fire and had watched the video three times in the previous four days, according to the complaint.

At 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, a wildfire camera in the area indicated a fire had started, according to Essayli, who said Rinderknecht is accused of intentionally and "maliciously starting" that fire.

"ATF has determined the fire was ignited with an open flame," Essayli said.

• Related: 'Disaster Tourism' Turns Palisades Fire's Destruction Into Tour-Bus Spectacle: Officials

Rinderknecht tried several times to contact 911, but struggled due to a lack of service. While on the phone with 911 at 12:17 a.m. — the first time his call went through — Rinderknecht typed a question into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes." The AI's answer was "Yes," according to the complaint.

He made a three-minute screen recording of his iPhone that showed his attempted and successful 911 cals and him asking ChatGPT the question about cigarette fires," according to the complaint.

"Based on my training and experience and this investigation, this indicates that Rinderknecht wanted to preserve evidence of himself trying to assist in the suppression of the fire and he wanted to create evidence regarding a more innocent explanation for the case of the fire," the ATF agent wrote.

He then left the area. As he drove away, he spotted fire trucks responding to the scene, turned his car around and returned to the trail to film the response on his phone, Essayli said.

"Rinderknecht later told investigators that he offered to help the firefighters fight the fire," an ATF agent wrote in the criminal complaint. "Based on my training and experience, that would be highly unusual conduct."

Authorities determined the Palisades Fire "was a 'holdover' fire, i.e., a continuation of the Lachman Fire,'" according to the complaint.

Firefighters used water drops from an aircraft, hose lines and hand lines to attack the fire. Suppression efforts continued into the daytime; firefighters continued to wet down areas within the fire perimeter. Crews intentionally left fire hoses on the site in case they needed to be redeployed and returned to the scene on Jan. 2 to collect the hoses.

"It appeared to them that the fire was fully extinguished," the ATF agent wrote.

"Although the Los Angeles City Fire Department quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire on Jan. 1, unbeknownst to anyone the fire continued to smolder and burn underground, within the root structure of dense vegetation. On Jan. 7, heavy winds caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became the Palisades Fire," the complaint reads.

Data from T-Mobile and AT&T showed no phones — other than Rinderknecht's — were in use when the Lachman Fire started, according to the complaint.

In the months leading up to the fire, Essayli said Rinderknecht had used artificial intelligence to generate at least one image germane to the investigation: An image rendered by ChatGPT that showed a "dystopian city burning down."

The ATF-led investigation included examining 200 leads, processing 1,300 items of evidence — including debris, digital data and DNA samples — and the conducting of 500 scientific tests. The agency's work includes a 200-page report on the origin and cause of the Palisades Fire, according to Cooper.

The ATF's National Response Team was called in to investigate the Palisades Fire before it had even been fully contained. The elite team works on fewer than 20 cases a year on average and was called in due to the fire's size and scope, the ATF's Jose Medina said in January.

RELATED:

• Palisades Fire Video Shows Detailed, Street-Level View Of Blaze's Destruction
• Homes Burned, Roads Jammed Before Palisades Evacuation Order Came
• Celebrity Homes Burn To The Ground In Palisades Fire