\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges.Jonathan Rinderknecht appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon after arriving in Los Angeles from Florida earlier in the day, his attorney Steve Haney said. A judge ordered that he remain in custody ahead of his trial.Federal officials said Rinderknecht, who lived in the area, started a small fire on New Year\u2019s Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through Pacific Palisades, home to many of Los Angeles\u2019 rich and famous.The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.Haney told the judge he took issue with the fact that Rinderknecht was facing charges for the Palisades Fire when he allegedly started the smaller fire beforehand known as the Lachman Fire.\u201cMy client is being charged with a fire that started seven days after,\u201d he said.Rinderknecht was staying at his sister\u2019s house in Orlando when he was arrested by federal officials on Oct. 7. He made his first court appearance the next day in Florida on a charge of malicious destruction by means of a fire.A week later, a grand jury indicted him on additional charges including one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in federal prison.Rinderknecht\u2019s trial is set for December 16.On Thursday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver wearing a white jumpsuit. His attorney argued that he should be released on bail, based on the evaluation of court officials in Florida.Rinderknecht has no documented history of mental health issues, drug use, or prior criminal activity, Haney said.However, the judge in Florida who ordered Rinderknecht to be detained said he had concerns about the Rinderknecht\u2019s mental health and his ability to get to California for future court hearings.He appeared agitated when the judge in Los Anglees again ordered that he remain in jail, interjecting into the microphone, \u201cCan I actually say something about detainment?\u201dHaney said they planned to return to the judge with additional evidence for why Rinderknecht should be released on bail.\u201cHe\u2019s a frustrated young man,\u201d Haney said after the hearing. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t know why he\u2019s in jail right now.\u201dHaney said they plan to argue that even if Rinderknecht was the cause of the initial smaller fire on New Year\u2019s Day, there were several \u201cintervening factors\u201d in the week between that day and when the Palisades Fire ignited, mainly the Los Angeles Fire Department.Rinderknecht made several 911 calls to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint. Federal officials called the Palisades blaze a \u201choldover fire\u201d from the Jan. 1 fire, which was not fully extinguished by firefighters, the complaint said.The city\u2019s interim fire chief said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to over 6 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.\u201cThey had a duty to put the fire out,\u201d Haney said. \u201cI do think he\u2019s a scapegoat.\u201dDOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tLOS ANGELES \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rinderknecht appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon after arriving in Los Angeles from Florida earlier in the day, his attorney Steve Haney said. A judge ordered that he remain in custody ahead of his trial.<\/p>\n
Federal officials said Rinderknecht, who lived in the area, started a small fire on New Year\u2019s Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through Pacific Palisades, home to many of Los Angeles\u2019 rich and famous.<\/p>\n
The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n
Haney told the judge he took issue with the fact that Rinderknecht was facing charges for the Palisades Fire when he allegedly started the smaller fire beforehand known as the Lachman Fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy client is being charged with a fire that started seven days after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rinderknecht was staying at his sister\u2019s house in Orlando when he was arrested by federal officials on Oct. 7. He made his first court appearance the next day in Florida on a charge of malicious destruction by means of a fire.<\/p>\n
A week later, a grand jury indicted him on additional charges including one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n
Rinderknecht\u2019s trial is set for December 16.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver wearing a white jumpsuit. His attorney argued that he should be released on bail, based on the evaluation of court officials in Florida.<\/p>\n
Rinderknecht has no documented history of mental health issues, drug use, or prior criminal activity, Haney said.<\/p>\n
However, the judge in Florida who ordered Rinderknecht to be detained said he had concerns about the Rinderknecht\u2019s mental health and his ability to get to California for future court hearings.<\/p>\n
He appeared agitated when the judge in Los Anglees again ordered that he remain in jail, interjecting into the microphone, \u201cCan I actually say something about detainment?\u201d<\/p>\n
Haney said they planned to return to the judge with additional evidence for why Rinderknecht should be released on bail.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a frustrated young man,\u201d Haney said after the hearing. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t know why he\u2019s in jail right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haney said they plan to argue that even if Rinderknecht was the cause of the initial smaller fire on New Year\u2019s Day, there were several \u201cintervening factors\u201d in the week between that day and when the Palisades Fire ignited, mainly the Los Angeles Fire Department.<\/p>\n
Rinderknecht made several 911 calls to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint. Federal officials called the Palisades blaze a \u201choldover fire\u201d from the Jan. 1 fire, which was not fully extinguished by firefighters, the complaint said.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s interim fire chief said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to over 6 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had a duty to put the fire out,\u201d Haney said. \u201cI do think he\u2019s a scapegoat.\u201d<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10772,217,8532,967,17807,3802,18752,18753,7211,16047,48,52,51,11857,47,50,49,18754,18755,430],"class_list":{"0":"post-24183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-charge","9":"tag-day","10":"tag-deadly-palisades-fire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-federal-official","13":"tag-fire","14":"tag-florida-man","15":"tag-haney","16":"tag-jonathan-rinderknecht","17":"tag-judge","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-headlines","20":"tag-la-news","21":"tag-late-news","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","24":"tag-los-angeles-news","25":"tag-new-year","26":"tag-small-fire","27":"tag-week"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}