Free Republic

Authorities in California charged a 29-year-old man with "malicious destruction' for allegedly starting a deadly fire that erupted into the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history and destroyed much of the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood, officials announced Wednesday. Federal law enforcement officials accused 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of lighting a fire on New Year’s Day that was initially extinguished by fire crews, but continued to smolder underground before reigniting during high winds, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference. Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida, where he moved after the fire, and is due to appear in...

A suspect arrested in relation to arson attacks at University of California, Berkeley is a 34-year-old PhD student who lived in his parents' million-dollar home and called the U.S. a "fascist hellhole." California and federal law enforcement say that 34-year-old Casey Goonan was arrested on Monday for allegedly committing four acts of arson at Berkeley during pro-Palestinian anti-Israel protests on campus. His attorney confirmed that officials had raided Goonan's parents' home in Pleasant Hill on Monday at about 10 a.m. A CalFire news release said that Goonan had been booked into the Alameda County jail on suspicion of arson and...

As long as your heart is in the right place, who cares, right? As long as your heart is in the right place, who cares if you are a multiple arsonist who throws fire-bombs and endangers lives? And you have a well-placed heart as big as the Ritz if you hate Israel and want to see it disappear, to be replaced by a 23rd Arab state. More on the antisemitic and pro-Hamas supporters who have rallied round the pyromaniacal comically-named Casey Goonan, can be found here: “Anti-Israel serial arsonist receives support from Columbia encampment protest groups,” by Michael Starr, Jerusalem...

A federal judge handed down a stiff sentence to a man who turned political rage into arson, and it matters. Casey Robert Goonan was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after a string of firebombings and arsons in the Bay Area. The court applied a terrorism enhancement, and the result should remind anyone tempted by violent activism that the system takes these attacks seriously. On June 1, Goonan placed a bag of six incendiary devices under a UC Police Department patrol car near the UC Berkeley campus, an act caught on surveillance video. Ten days later he attacked an...

The suspect who torched 11 NYPD cop cars in Brooklyn—causing $800,000+ in damage—has been identified as Jakhi Lodgson-McCray, an anti-Israel agitator with multiple protest-related arrests. A $30,000 reward is being offered on the whereabouts of the anti-Israel menace accused of torching nearly a dozen NYPD cars and causing $800,000 in damages in Brooklyn earlier in the month. Jakhi Lodgson-McCray, 21, who has been arrested a number of times at protests, allegedly set fire to 11 cop cars in a Bushwick parking lot on June 12 — and has not been seen since, cops said. Numerous law enforcement agencies —...

Monday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” host Dana Bash said President Donald Trump was acting as the “arsonist” by sending the National Guard to Los Angeles. Reporter Manu Raju said, “Just to get the point of how much Donald Trump wants this fight, I mean, he’s been posting and talking about it pretty much nonstop over the weekend, including just moments ago saying if we had not done this, send the National Guard in Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. Now, I’m not quite sure if that’s exactly the case of what people are saying on the ground here. But...

The man who set the Pennsylvania Governor’s residence on fire on Sunday morning has been identified. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday. His name is Cody Balmer, he’s 38 years-old and he lives near the governor’s mansion. Balmer torched the governor’s residence during Passover. Shapiro is Jewish. Times Now reported: During a news conference, police confirmed that Balmer scaled fences, evaded state troopers, and ignited the fire. He was arrested in the Harrisburg area shortly after Governor Shapiro and his family were safely evacuated. Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo stated that forthcoming charges will include attempted murder, terrorism, attempted...

Police have arrested 36-year-old Paul Kim on arson charges and possession of an explosive device. The accused terrorist is believed to have pulled out a gun and shot the cars along with igniting Molotov cocktails. "He used what appeared to be multiple Molotov cocktails and firearms to conduct his attack," said LVMPD Asst. Sheriff Dori Koren. 5 vehicles were damaged in the incident. Kim was booked on 15 counts.

Faint interest in film glorifying activists bent on violence, destructionJames Cameron caught little heat for a shocking admission. He hearts eco-terrorism. It’s one thing for the “Avatar” director to be so green he makes his cast and crew eat vegan. That seems quaint compared to a quote that got ignored by most press outlets. Now, we have an entire film dedicated to eco-activists willing to employ violence to suit their needs. And it’s clear where the story’s empathy lies. “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” deserves some sort of Truth in Advertising award. The story follows a gang of eco-thugs...

Senator Bernie Sanders' Vermont office was set ablaze by a suspected arsonist who is on the run. Burlington firefighters were called to the senators office on the third floor of One Church Street around 10:45 am on Friday. Police said an unidentified man entered the vestibule of the office, sprayed an accelerant on the door and set it on fire, reported NBC5.

Dustin Nehl was previously convicted of arson in Woodburn; Jennifer Nehl was highlighted by federal NOAA for climate education for incarcerated youth in 2023 ... An Oregon couple was arrested Sunday for impersonating firefighters in the area burned by the Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles, California... the couple as Dustin Nehl, 31, and Jennifer Nehl, 44. Mr. Nehl’s social media accounts say he lives in Woodburn, Oregon; Mrs. Nehl’s say she lives in Jefferson or Scio, Oregon. The couple allegedly drove a full-size firetruck emblazoned with “Roaring River Fire” into the recently burned area, claiming they were volunteer firefighters. Police...

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A man and a woman from Oregon were arrested over the weekend for reportedly impersonating firefighters as they attempted to enter a Palisades Fire evacuation zone in what appeared to be a legitimate fire engine, officials announced Sunday. In a news release, officials with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said the suspects, identified as 31-year-old Dustin Nehl and 44-year-old Jennifer Nehl, were spotted by LAPD patrol officers on Jan. 18. Not believing the fire truck was legitimate, police relayed the information to sheriff’s deputies, who caught up to the suspects. LASD said that when they contacted...

Los Angeles police arrest an arsonist and share footage of alleged looters in a Pacific Palisades home. ... Arrested then released ... He is literally standing next to a fire he lit lol ... another illegal ... Unless his first and last name is Mr. Climate Change the left is pissing up a rope. It's called arson, NOT climate change. ... arsonist are climate change now ... It was all planned. It's terrible how they just don't care about anything but their own goals. ... they voted for open borders! let them eat cake!

This guy on FB has got some insane video of the SoCal fires.

An apocalyptic, fast moving fire that sparked mass evacuations in Calabasas and the Hidden Hills is being investigated as an arson incident, with one suspect arrested. The Kenneth Fire is tearing through the West Hills at a rapid rate, with 900 exhausted first responders pulled from other high priority infernos in southern California to protect homes and try to contain the flames. Now, LAPD senior lead officer Charles Dinsel has told NewsNation a suspect is in custody, who is believed to have intentionally caused the out-of-control blaze. 'About 20-30 minutes later a suspect was detained over in Woodland Hills area...

A leftist activist has been arrested for burning down a gun shop owned by Cornel Rasor, a Republican candidate for the Idaho State House of Representatives, on the Fourth of July. The activist, Jennifer S. Meyer, is accused of burning down Cornel Rasor’s Army Surplus Store in Sandpoint, prompting celebrations from her fellow leftists. Meyer has reportedly made signs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and a local arts commission. It appears the fire that consumed Cornell Razor’s Army Surplus store (located just 1 block away from where Sandpoint Pride is held) was ARSON, not a “stray firework.”...

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said Thursday on her show “Deadline” that former President Donald Trump’s visit to the U.S. Capitol was like “an arsonist admiring something he sought to burn down.” Wallace said, “Congressman, quick question, some of the law enforcement officials who protected the Capitol, the Democratic and Republican members who work inside of it, have become well known to our viewers, Harry Dunn and Officer Gonell and others, I imagine some others we don’t know as well were there today when Donald Trump was there, we liken it to an arsonist admiring something he sought to burn down....

A Quebec man who posted conspiracy theories online that forest fires were being deliberately set by the government has pleaded guilty to starting a series of fires himself that forced hundreds of people from their homes. Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life at the courthouse in Chibougamau, Que. Prosecutor Marie-Philippe Charron told the court that two of the 14 fires set by Paré forced the evacuation of around 500 homes in Chapais, Que...

A former college professor has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison over a string of arson fires in Northern California in 2021 as fire crews were battling the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose, pleaded guilty in February to three arson counts in connection to fires in the Shasta National Forest and near the Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest. The Dixie Fire burned over 1,500 square miles after igniting on July 13 and destroyed over 1,000 homes. Maynard was accused of setting fires behind firefighters battling the...

Disturbing new video captures the moment a hateful arsonist fumbles in a failed attempt to light an American and Israeli flag on fire outside an Upper Manhattan kosher eatery in broad daylight. The clip, released by the NYPD early Friday, shows the would-be firebug standing on a chair set up next to a small table outside Falafel Crunch on Amsterdam Avenue near West 186th Street in Fort George — about a block from Yeshiva University — and spraying an aerosol can at the two flags displayed together outside the pita spot around 2:50 p.m. Feb. 24. He then stands on...