A 22-year-old California man has been charged with intentionally setting a fire at Comet Ping Pong in January. The clue that led federal investigators to him was a distinctive blue jacket he allegedly wore during both the arson and two separate instances of unlawful entry at the Washington Monument, one of which led to U.S. Park Police tasing him.
Ryan Jaselskis was arrested in the arson case on February 13 and made his first appearance in the U.S. District Court for D.C. today, as first reported by NBC Washington. A federal arson charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
No one was injured during the January 23 fire, which destroyed a set of curtains and resulted in the evacuation of the popular Northwest pizzeria. Investigators who arrived on the scene determined the fire had been intentionally set after finding wooden matches and lighter fluid near the curtains, and released a video of the suspect—a white male in his 20s-to-mid-30s with a “distinctive blue jacket with white sleeves and red trim.”
A man wearing a jacket matching that description jumped the chain link fence around the Washington Monument on February 4, according to U.S. Park Police spokesperson Sergeant Eduardo Delgado. Jaselskis actively resisted arrest when two Park Police officers approached him, Delgado said. A fistfight ensued, as captured by a bystander and posted on social media. Officers tased Jaselskis, who was wearing a blue jacket with white sleeves and red trim, and took him into custody.
Charged with unlawful entry and assault on a police officer, Jaselskis was released with a stay away order from the Washington Monument grounds. But about 24 hours later, Jaselskis again jumped the Washington Monument chain-link fence, according to Delgado, and was arrested by officers. This time, there was no fighting. He was charged with unlawful entry, destruction of public property, and contempt in D.C. Superior Court. His blue jacket was taken first for safekeeping and then as evidence, according to charging documents.
The arson case was investigated jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, and D.C. police. Investigators examined the jacket on February 12 and found that it matched the surveillance images from Comet Ping Pong. A witness at the restaurant identified Jaselskis’ mugshot from a nine-person photo array.
Comet Ping Pong fell victim to the “Pizzagate” hoax, a baseless online conspiracy theory that began shortly before the 2016 election claiming that the restaurant is involved with an underground satanic sex ring in its basement tied to close allies of Hillary Clinton. While the theory is easily disproven—Comet Ping Pong doesn’t even have a basement—it has led to ongoing harassment and death threats for staff and an armed man storming the pizzeria and firing a gun inside. That man, Edgar Maddison Welch, told police he sought to “self-investigate” the claims, and peacefully surrendered after finding nothing inside.
Federal prosecutors do not provide a motive for Jaselskis in the charging documents or say whether they believe his alleged actions are tied to Pizzagate in any way. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey ordered that Jaselskis be held without bond before his detention hearing, scheduled for February 19.
Jaselskis, who is an actor under the stage name Ryan Rimas, wears the distinctive blue jacket in his headshot on the Internet Movie Database, NBC Washington reporter Mark Segraves notes. His IMDB page describes him as “an actor, known for Evening Installation (2018), Josh Taylor’s Prom Date (2019), and Party Betchez (2014).”
Rachel Kurzius