March 28, 2024
Indictment returned in deadly El Dorado Fire started at gender reveal party
SAN BERNARDINO – (INT) – A local couple is denying an assortment of criminal charges stemming from last year’s El Dorado Fire that originated at a gender reveal party at the El Dorado Park in Yucaipa.

District Attorney Jason Anderson announced the charges against Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr. and Angela Renee Jimenez during a late Tuesday afternoon news conference.

The charges were disclosed after a Grand Jury indictment was unsealed. Among the alleged felonies was one count of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the death of hot shot fire fighter Charles Morton. The indictment also listed three felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and four felony counts of recklessly causing a fire to inhabited structure.

The couple is free on their promise to return to San Bernardino Superior Court September 15th for further proceedings.

Anderson told a news conference that a smoke bomb was ignited at the party September 5th, 2020. It ignited dry brush and weeds and before it was contained more than two months later, it blackened nearly 23,000 acres and damaged or destroyed nine homes in the San Bernardino National Forest.
Story Date: July 27, 2021
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