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He’s the son of Baptist missionaries who loved soccer as a child.
In the Hollywood neighborhood where he lived and worked as an Uber driver, one acquaintance described him as “a really nice guy.” Yet he was embroiled in an ugly legal conflict with a neighbor in his apartment complex that included accusations of abuse and drug use.
Now, federal prosecutors accuse Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, of intentionally sparking one of the most destructive fires in California history.
In a court filing, authorities accuse Rinderknecht of setting a fire just after midnight on Jan. 1 along a popular hiking trail in Pacific Palisades. They allege he repeatedly listened to a brooding French rap song