An attorney for the man charged with intentionally igniting a smoldering blaze that later became the deadly Palisades fire says the evidence against his client is thin and accused authorities of scapegoating him.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was indicted this week on three felony charges and faces the prospect of up to 45 years in prison. The one-time L.A. Uber driver and now Florida resident was arrested by the FBI on Oct. 7 and charged with destruction of property by means of fire for allegedly starting a Jan. 1 blaze known as the Lachman fire that smoldered for six days until it became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
Prosecutors on Wednesday revealed a new indictment against Rinderknecht that upped the stakes by adding one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire.
But Steve Haney, Rinderknecht’s newly retained lawyer, said the case against Rinderknecht is thin, and factually linking him to the Palisades fire is not possible.
He said the time between the Lachman fire on Jan. 1 and the Palisades fire on Jan. 7 leaves open room for a multitude of variables that could have led to the destructive and deadly blaze. Rinderknecht is far removed from the Palisades fire, Haney said.
“I don’t see any evidence linking the Lachman fire to the Palisades fire,” Haney said. He said that the government’s case is “full of all sorts of problems.”
“Finding a scapegoat for the Palisades fire is un-American,” said Haney, who is well known for representing sports figures in criminal proceedings.
Haney said he has seen the grand jury indictment against his client, but the federal government has not yet offered to show him any evidence in the case. His client has not entered a plea on the charges against him and he’s due to appear in a federal courtroom in California in the next few weeks.
“He’s eager for the truth to be told,” Haney said Thursday about his client, whom he described as doing well in federal detention in Florida.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, working with the Los Angeles Police Department, determined that the massive Palisades fire was a continuation of the small Lachman fire, on Jan. 1. L.A. firefighters believed they knocked it down but the fire continued to smolder beneath the earth before reigniting amid fierce Santa Ana winds on Jan. 7.
Federal prosecutors allege that Rinderknecht maliciously started the Lachman fire near Skull Rock just after midnight on New Year’s Day after working a shift as an Uber driver. Law enforcement officials used witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns to determine that Rinderknecht was responsible for the initial ignition, prosecutors said.
The Palisades fire killed 12 people, scorched 23,400 acres — an area roughly 1.5 times the size of Manhattan — and leveled more than 6,800 structures.
On Rinderknecht’s phone, investigators found an AI-generated image of a burning city with people trying to flee, according to Bill Essayli, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
Two Uber passengers whom Rinderknecht drove on separate trips between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m. on New Year’s Eve told law enforcement that he appeared angry and agitated.
After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, he parked near Skull Rock Trailhead and walked up the trail while listening to a brooding French rap song whose music video shows trash on fire, prosecutors allege.
Rinderknecht’s parents live in France, where his father is a citizen, according to Shawn Hurley, a pastor with Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio, who has known the family for 30 years.
Rinderknecht has also spent time in France, but was living in a Hollywood apartment at the time he allegedly started the Lachman fire. Environmental sensors first detected that blaze at 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Within the next five minutes, Rinderknecht attempted calling 911 several times but could not get through until he arrived at the bottom of the trail and regained cellphone service, prosecutors said. By that time, a nearby resident had already contacted authorities.
Rinderknecht told law enforcement that he first saw the fire from the bottom of the trail; however, data from his iPhone showed that he was standing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, prosecutors allege.
The Los Angeles Fire Department, which been criticized for failing to pre-deploy adequate resources during the fire-weather conditions on Jan. 7 when the Palisades fire ignited, is now facing scrutiny over whether it could have done more to prevent the rekindling of the Lachman fire.
Staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
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