The man accused of starting a fire that ultimately became the deadly fire that devastated the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles earlier this year has been indicted by a federal grand jury, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was charged with three counts: one count of destruction of property by fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of burning wood.
He now faces up to 45 years in federal prison.
The indictment adds two additional charges. When he was arrested, authorities said the maximum sentence Rinderknecht faced was 20 years in prison.
Jonathan Rinderknecht appears in a photograph released by the Department of Justice.
Department of Justice
Rinderknecht, a former Los Angeles resident who lives in Florida, was arrested on Oct. 7, several months after the Palisades Fire devastated neighborhoods in Los Angeles County and left 12 people dead.
Federal prosecutors said Rinderknecht, who was working as an Uber driver at the time, set a brush fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 1.
Despite being put out by fire crews, the fire continued to burn until it re-emerged nearly a week later amid high winds in the Los Angeles area, eventually becoming the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history, according to officials.
Homes that were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, January 27, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
In a criminal complaint, authorities allege that Rinderknecht set the fire by igniting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, likely a lighter.
Authorities have not described a motive, but during a news conference after Rinderknecht’s arrest, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli pointed to digital evidence included in the complaint of an image Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July 2024 using ChatGPT, which shows in part “a forest on fire and a crowd fleeing from it.”
Rinderknecht is due to appear for an arraignment in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, expected in the coming weeks, federal prosecutors said.
