Los Angeles – The most destructive inferno in Los Angeles history, which charred a devastating path through Pacific Palisades and Malibu in early January, was a flare-up of a fire that an Uber driver intentionally set days earlier near a popular hiking area, federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday.

Authorities announced the arrest of the Uber driver, 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is suspected of setting the initial fire early New Year’s Day that eventually became the Palisades fire. Rinderknecht, of Florida, who was arrested Tuesday, was charged with destruction of property by means of fire and faces a minimum of five years in federal prison.

Among the evidence collected from Rinderknecht’s digital devices was an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city, said Bill E

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