Authorities arrested a suspect on Tuesday in connection with the fires that devastated Los Angeles in January, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is charged with “maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire,” known as one of the most catastrophic fires in U.S. history. The felony charge carries a mandatory minimum five-year federal prison sentence and is punishable by up to 20 years.
Rinderknecht, an Uber driver, is accused of starting the Lachman Fire on Jan. 1, which the Justice Department said sparked the Palisades fires on Jan. 7, causing billions in damages and killing 31 people. The suspect allegedly lied to authorities about his whereabouts when the Lachman Fire started, Essayli said, citing geolocation data from Rinderknecht’s cellphone. Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Los Angeles Field Division Kenny Cooper said agents collected more than 13,000 items of evidence, carried out 500 scientific tests, and reviewed approximately 1.5 million phone records and data extracted from digital evidence to make the case to arrest Rinderknecht…