Suspect in Comet Ping Pong Fire Charged With Arson After Fight With Police

The man who allegedly set fire to curtains inside a Chevy Chase neighborhood pizzeria was charged with arson this week, NBC4 reports.

Federal prosecutors brought the charge against Ryan Rimas Jaselskis, 22, yesterday following surveillance video that recorded him at the scene of the fire in late January. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives had released images from the surveillance video while hoping to catch the suspect. No one was hurt in the fire.

According to NBC, Jaselskis was finally caught when he climbed a fence around the Washington Monument on Feb. 5. Two U.S. Park Police officers reportedly had to use a stun gun on Jaselskis after trying to stop him with a baton and pepper spray.

Following the fire, Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis told the Washington Post that he didn’t believe the latest incident had anything to do with the “Pizzagate” episode centering around his restaurant in 2016. In that case, an armed man named Edgar Maddison Welch stormed into the restaurant and fired a shot while attempting to Investigate a bunk conspiracy theory that Comet was part of an underground child sex ring involving presidential candidate Hilary Clinton.

• Suspect in Arson at ‘Pizzagate’ Restaurant Arrested During Caught-on-Camera Brawl With Officers at Monument [NBC]