Suspect charged with arson at ‘Pizzagate’ restaurant after police confrontation at Washington Monument

A California man has been charged with arson in connection with a recent fire at the D.C. pizza restaurant associated with the far-right “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.

Ryan Rimas Jaselskis, 22, was charged Wednesday, according to BuzzFeed News, about three weeks after D.C. authorities said they suspected a small fire at Comet Ping Pong was set intentionally. 

Jaselskis’s charge comes after he was arrested Monday in a separate incident at the Washington Monument.

{mosads}U.S. Park police arrested Jaselskis and took him into custody after he allegedly jumped a fence at the monument. One officer used a taser on Jaselskis after he tried to fight the arresting officers.

Jaselskis was identified by his jacket as the suspect in the Comet Ping Pong fire by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, according to the report. D.C. Fire and EMS released surveillance footage of a man in a jacket similar to the one Jaselskis was wearing at the time of his Monday arrest.

The unfounded “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which emerged during the 2016 campaign, claims without evidence that the Comet Ping Pong restaurant is the site of a child trafficking ring run by Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats.

The theory has brought unwanted attention and threats of violence toward the restaurant and its employees, including a man firing several shots in the restaurant in December 2016. No injuries were reported in the January fire.