A disgruntled Inland Empire employee accused of causing $500 million in damage invoked Luigi Mangione as he filmed himself torching a warehouse as he railed against wages, authorities said.
Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland, California, is charged with deliberately setting the April 7 inferno that destroyed a 1.2 million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark distribution center in Ontario. He pleaded not guilty Monday to federal and state charges, authorities said.
According to a Department of Justice criminal complaint, Abdulkarim, who worked at the facility through a third-party logistics provider, filmed himself setting multiple pallets of paper goods on fire in the early morning hours.
In the video, he allegedly complained about wages, saying, “If you’re not going to pay us enough to [expletive] live… at least pay us enough not to do this,” according to the DOJ affidavit.
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Federal prosecutors say the flames quickly spread, collapsing the roof and leveling the entire facility, which stored household products like Kleenex and Cottonelle.
Investigators allege Abdulkarim later bragged about the destruction in texts and phone calls, including one message that read, “I just cost these [expletive] billions,” while railing against corporate profits and shareholders.
In a separate call, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Abdulkarim compared himself to Mangione — the suspect accused in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“Luigi popped that mutherf—er,” Abdulkarim said, according to the federal complaint, adding “a lot of people are going to understand.”
Fox News contributor and former FBI special agent Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital that Abdulkarim seems to have used similar tactics as Mangione, calling it the “Luigi effect.”
“Luigi garnered a substantial amount of attention and empathy from many because of his ‘cause’ as a justification for his grievance,” she said. “Several are now copying him to one degree or another in an effort to gain that same level of attention and hero status.”
Abdulkarim “believes he was speaking and acting out on behalf of the American people” as he ranted about workers being paid enough to live.
“Chamel was proud to have cost over $1 billion to the company,” Parker said. “It is a troubling time in our society when offenders will go to all lengths no matter how destructive or evil to prove a point for their cause.
“I refer to it as the ‘Luigi effect’ where offenders have learned to focus attention on their grievance through violence due to the sensationalization from online platforms and social media. Law enforcement and specifically the FBI will be digging into his behaviors and what led him down the path to violence. Turning to violence to settle a grievance is never the answer. He chose to carry out these awful crimes, but he will not choose the consequence.”
Prosecutors allege Abdulkarim acted “willfully, maliciously, and with premeditation” when he set the fire, conduct they say was carried out under circumstances likely to cause injury and massive property destruction, according to a San Bernardino County felony complaint.
The complaint charges him with aggravated arson, a top-tier felony, along with multiple additional counts of arson of a structure tied to the same blaze.
Authorities say the fire caused losses far exceeding $10 million, a key threshold that elevates the severity of the charge, while federal officials estimate total damage at roughly $500 million.
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“America is founded on free enterprise and capitalism… Anyone who attacks our values, our way of life, our system… we’re gonna come after aggressively,” Essayli said.
Abdulkarim was arrested about two miles from the scene shortly after the fire broke out. Roughly 175 firefighters responded to the six-alarm blaze, which is considered one of the most destructive warehouse fires in the region. No injuries were reported.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson blasted the alleged crime, calling arson “a real head-scratcher” and warning it puts lives, jobs and commerce at risk.
“I do not understand somebody… to displace people from their jobs, to ruin commerce, to get in the way of labor, to put people in physical harm,” Anderson said.
Abdulkarim is charged federally with arson of a building used in interstate and foreign commerce and faces multiple state felony counts that could significantly increase his prison exposure.
If convicted on the federal charge alone, he would face a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have also signaled the case involves aggravating factors, including the scale of destruction and potential danger to others.
