Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, caused $500 million in damage, and prosecutors accuse him of deliberately setting fires that destroyed a warehouse in Ontario, California.
The Justice Department announced today that a San Bernardino County man faces federal criminal charges for deliberately setting fires that destroyed a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and caused approximately $500 million in damage.
Federal authorities charged Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland, with arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce and used in activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce. Investigators filed the federal complaint late Thursday.
Authorities arrested Abdulkarim on Tuesday and are holding him in local custody in San Bernardino County. He faces state criminal charges in the San Bernardino County Superior Court.
According to an affidavit filed with the federal criminal complaint, early in the morning on April 7, Abdulkarim filmed himself setting fire to multiple pallets of paper goods inside a large distribution center in Ontario. As he lit the fires, he stated, “If you’re not going to pay us enough to [expletive] live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this [expletive].”
The fires Abdulkarim set quickly consumed the building, resulting in its destruction and causing approximately $500 million in damage.
Abdulkarim posted videos of himself on social media, setting the fires. He further made statements to others on the telephone and via text messages related to his motive for setting the building on fire, including the following: “I just cost these [expletive] billions,” “1% is a [expletive] joke,” and “All you had to do was pay us enough to live. Pay us more of the value WE bring. Not corporate. Didn’t see the shareholders picking up a shift.”
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is also pursuing a criminal case related to the fire.
If convicted, Abdulkarim would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum of 20 years.
The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Ontario Police Department, and the Ontario Fire Department are investigating this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Gorin is prosecuting the case.