A 29-year-old man facing three federal charges in relation to the devastating Palisades fire allegedly had a loaded .380 magazine in his pocket during his October arrest in Florida and hid a handgun in a stuffed animal in the garage of his sister’s home, just feet from the ground within reach of her two children, federal authorities said in a court document asking a judge to keep him held in jail until his April trial.
Before a second detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, federal prosecutors alleged Jonathan Rinderknecht was a flight risk due to his international ties, was a danger to the community because of volatile confrontations with his sister and brother-in-law, has suffered declining mental health and was untrustworthy because he had lied to federal agents.
In court filings, prosecutors shared text messages and photographs in support of their stance in an effort to convince a judge to keep Rinderknecht in custody.
Rinderknecht’s attorney said the request for a second detention hearing was made because Rinderknecht’s parents planned to move to the United States from France and “are willing and have the financial means to support him while they are his third-party custodian.”
Rinderknecht faces destruction of property by fire, setting timber afire and arson affecting property used in interstate commerce charges for allgedly starting the Lachman fire on New Year’s Day. That fire, officials say, smoldered underground until fierce winds kicked the blaze back up to create what is known as the Palisades fire that killed 12 people and destroyed about 7,000 structures.
Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorney has argued that Rinderknecht has been made a scapegoat for the failure of firefighters to fully extinguish the Lachman fire.
Steve Haney, representing Rinderknecht, countered that Rinderknecht’s U.S. passport expired in 2023 and he did not have the financial means to travel internationally. He also said prosecutors’ contention that Rinderknecht had a French passport was false.
Haney said that a previous ruling to hold Rinderknecht was based mostly on testimony from an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who “admittedly has virtually no personal knowledge of the investigation.”
As for the flight risk argument, Haney argued that Rinderknecht would stay with his parents in a home in Central Florida, “near other family who supports his current situation,” and that his parents would ensure that he would have the financial means to travel to and from California with them for all future hearings.
Haney again argued in court papers that the case against his client was weak and there was no direct evidence that Rinderknecht started the Palisades fire. Rather, firefighters putting out the Lachman fire failed to ensure it was completely out, he argued.
Previously, when asked if Rinderknecht told Haney that he didn’t start the Lachman fire, Haney said he could not share privileged discussions.
In his court papers, Haney wrote that Rinderknecht’s father was expected to testify as to his son’s mental health and claimed the testimony at the October detention hearing in Florida was misrepresented.
Prosecutors say that Rinderknecht has ties to France, citing that his parents and a sibling live there and that he grew up there for 18 years. He also texted a friend in the weeks before his arrest that he had a “job and place and friends waiting in (B)ali,” they wrote in their court papers.
But most of the prosecution’s concerns rested in Rinderknecht’s alleged erratic behavior after he moved in with his sister and her family in Florida, they wrote. Within days of moving in after the Palisades fire began, citing his sister, prosecutors said Rinderknecht threatened to burn the home down.
In September, he had a “contentious verbal dispute” with his sister in front of her children about how she should become vegan after she had been diagnosed with a serious illness. She went on to say he screamed at her and at one point told her 5-year-old child she “is going to die,” they wrote.
He also had purchased a .380 Smith & Wesson pistol and claimed he wouldn’t be afraid to use it if his brother-in-law “got on him,” they wrote.
Rinderknecht’s sister offered him $15,000 to move out, but he refused to move out for less than $25,000, prosecutors alleged. The sister and her family moved out of the home a week before his arrest for fear of their own safety, federal prosecutors have said.
“If defendant’s family members did not feel safe in his presence, no conditions or combination of conditions can (reasonably) assure the safety of the community to whom defendant has no allegiances,” prosecutors wrote.
Aside from the gun allegations, Haney’s court documents did not appear to address the issues between Rinderknecht and his sister and her family in Florida.
However, Haney argued that Middle District of Florida Magistrate Judge Nathan Hill said in an October hearing, “I don’t find that the (government) has proven by clear and convincing evidence that you pose a risk of harm to anybody.”
The lawyer argued that the concerns posed in the previous hearing have been satisfied and argued for Rinderknecht’s release to the custody of his parents, including for home detention and “any and all forms of electronic monitoring (GPS, tether or otherwise) and any other conditions this honorable court deems appropriate.”
A judge was set to rule on Rinderknecht’s detention status on Tuesday, Nov 18. Rinderknecht’s trial is set for April.