LOS ANGELES (CNS) — An April 21 trial date has been set in Los Angeles federal court for Jonathan Rinderknecht, the 29-year-old former Uber driver accused of setting a New Year's Day fire that prosecutors say smoldered for a week and grew into what became the Palisades Fire that killed a dozen people.
Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty last month to federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire. He remains in federal custody, but is expected to argue for pretrial release at a Nov. 18 hearing in downtown Los Angeles.
If convicted as charged, Rinderknecht would face up to 45 years behind bars, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, law enforcement officials determined that the Palisades Fire was a "holdover" fire -- a continuation of the Lachman Fire that began early in the morning on New Year's Day 2025.
Although firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire, the fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation.
On Jan. 7, hurricane-force Santa Ana winds caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became known as the Palisades Fire.
The fire burned 23,448 acres and destroyed much of the exclusive Pacific Palisades community, destroying about 6,800 structures and killing 12 people.
Using witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene, among other things, law
enforcement determined that Rinderknecht "maliciously" set the Lachman Fire just after midnight on Jan. 1 on federal land, prosecutors said.
A week later, the same fire -- then known as the Palisades Fire -- spread throughout the area.
On the evening of Dec. 31, 2024, Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver, prosecutors said. Two passengers he drove on separate trips between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m. that night later told law enforcement that they remembered Rinderknecht appeared agitated and angry, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht -- who once lived in the neighborhood -- drove toward Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend and walked up the trail, court papers show.
He then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song -- to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days - - whose music video included things being lit on fire, federal prosecutors allege.
During a Jan. 24 interview with law enforcement in Florida, where he relocated after the fire, Rinderknecht allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, according to federal prosecutors.
