Palisades Arson Suspect's Bail Denied by Federal Judge

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, will remain in custody until his trial begins, tentatively set for April

By Nathaniel Percy

Source Los Angeles Daily News (TNS)

Nov. 19, 2025

7 min read

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A federal judge on Tuesday, Nov. 18, denied a request that the man accused of starting the Palisades fire be released on bond — citing concerns about his mental health, relationship with family members and apparent purchase of a firearm after moving into his sister’s Florida home following the outbreak of the blaze.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, will remain in custody until his trial begins, tentatively scheduled for April.

U.S. Judge Rozella A. Oliver’s ruling in the Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles came after Rinderknecht’s father, Joel Rinderknecht, testified that despite prior issues at the Florida home, his family members were fully supporting the defendant because they believe he is innocent and unjustly accused.

Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, called the case “nothing but a misrepresentation and for my client to be detained for five months because of a wafer-thin indictment” is unjust.

“His name, his reputation is being sullied beyond belief,” he said.

He argued for Rinderknecht to stay with his parents, who would move from France to Florida, and that they have the financial means to make sure he would make all future court appearances. He also added that his sister and brother-in-law were willing to contribute financially if needed.

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Alexander argued that though Rinderknecht’s family supports him, the plan being proposed to have him stay with family in Florida had “already been tried and it failed miserably.

“The relationship devolved so much that they asked him to leave and he wouldn’t,” Alexander said.

Rinderknecht’s sister and brother-in-law offered moving expenses and $10,000 – about $15,000 in total – to help move him into an apartment in San Francisco, she said, but he refused, saying he wouldn’t take less than $25,000.

Rinderknecht, who faces 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 and within reach of her two children, federal authorities said in a court document asking the judge to keep him held in jail until his trial.

Alexander, during Tuesday’s hearing, presented body-worn camera footage from officers in Florida with the defendant’s sister and his father expressing concern about his mental health, including one in which his sister said he “has mental-health issues,” gets “super angry” and is paranoid and delusional.

On the witness stand, Joel Rinderknecht said he flew to Florida from France after learning that his daughter was diagnosed with cancer. However, in the body-worn camera video clips, both he and his daughter tell police at separate times that he flew in to try to relieve tensions between Jonathan Rinderknecht and his sister and brother-in-law.

Joel Rinderknecht testified Tuesday that the fracture between the two sides no longer exists.

Before Tuesday’s detention hearing, federal prosecutors alleged Rinderknecht is a flight risk due to his international ties, is a danger to the community because of volatile confrontations with his sister and brother-in-law, has suffered declining mental health, and is untrustworthy because he has lied to federal agents.

In court filings, prosecutors shared text messages and photographs in support of their stance in an effort to convince the judge to keep Rinderknecht in custody.

Rinderknecht faces charges of destruction of property by fire, setting timber afire, and arson affecting property used in interstate commerce for allegedly starting the Lachman fire on New Year’s Day. That fire, officials say, smoldered underground for days 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. Outside of court, Haney question his client’s ties to the Lachman blaze.

Haney said 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.”

Prosecutors say that Rinderknecht has ties to France, citing that his parents and a sibling live there and that he grew up in France. 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 cancer. She went on to say he screamed at her and at one point told her 5-year-old child she “is going to die,” prosecutors wrote.

He 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. Agents found the gun inside a stuffed animal in the garage about a foot off the ground, though Joel Rinderknecht testified Tuesday that the stuffed animal belonged to Rinderknecht and the other family members had moved out by the time it was stored there.

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.

Haney 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 for “any and all forms of electronic monitoring (GPS, tether or otherwise) and any other conditions this honorable court deems appropriate.”

Judge Oliver wasn’t persuaded.

“The video paints a very different picture of the family relationship that brings some concerns,” Oliver said. “(His sister) moved out of the house two months ago and now for them to come forward as sureties raises some concerns that this could happen again.”

After the hearing, Haney said while the Rinderknechts were disappointed in the outcome, it was expected. He maintained that prosecutors have not presented direct evidence that Rinderknecht started the Lachman fire, citing a report from a 911 caller that a firework appeared to start the blaze.