Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano told reporters on Tuesday that despite rumors to the contrary, the arsonist recently arrested in a Sonoma park and booked by SCSO, who also happened to be an undocumented immigrant, was not arrested on charges that he started the catastrophic and deadly North Bay fires.
But you wouldn’t know that from the online pages of the right-wing Breitbart, which reported today:
“The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) issued a detainer request on the Sonoma County Jail for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of arson in Wine Country fires that have killed at least 40 residents.”
Emphasis added: Nice try, guys.
As Giordano noted: Yes, Gonzalez was a homeless man arrested on felony arson charges and was, said Giordano, a known quantity to SCSO. Gonzalez lit a fire under a bridge to stay warm, he told police. Breitbart wasn’t buying it, given the warm temperatures.
The sheriff cautioned against anyone coming to any conclusion about how the fire was set while it is still under investigation (downed power lines may have been the cause of the multiple fires that erupted while hurricane-force winds blew through the North Bay, but no official causes have been determined).
The Breitbart article links to a Press Democrat report on the arrest, which took place on the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 8, hours before numerous wind-blown infernos forced people from their homes throughout the region.
Reported the PD: “Sheriff’s Deputy John Grohl was called to the scene and extinguished the fire, which was then completely doused by Sonoma Valley Fire Protection District personnel.”
“Completely doused.” Did you catch that, Breitbart boys?
So yes, Gonzalez was arrested on arson charges. But no, he was not arrested on arson charges “in Wine Country fires that have killed at least 40 residents,” despite what Breitbart is pimping to its collapsing subscriber base of white nationalist mouth-breathers.
