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A 29-year-old Florida man and former Pacific Palisades resident is charged with starting a New Year's Day fire that became the deadly Palisades Fire Jan. 7.

Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida and charged by federal prosecutors with destruction of property by means of fire.

The New Year's Day fire smoldered for days in the dense root structure in the LA County coastal community and was fanned by a Jan. 7 windstorm, authorities say.

The suspect was in the Pacific Palisades area on the night of Dec. 31 after working as an Uber driver and dropping off a passenger in the neighborhood, prosecutors say.

Witness statements, a ChatGPT profile, video surveillance, cellphone data, and an analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene were part of the investig

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