sigh!
A pharmacology professor at the University of California, Irvine is accused of starting several fires at his son’s former high school and plotting to kill both students and administrators.
Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, 48, is charged with setting five fires on the campus of University High School, as well as a local park.
Authorities also found worrying emails Reinscheid sent to his wife in April, which allegedly said how he was going to burn down the school, buy guns, shoot students and administrators, and then kill himself.
His 14-year-old son had been a student there and had been disciplined this past spring before later committing suicide at a nearby park.
The college professor, who earned his PhD in Hamburg, Germany, was arrested in the middle of the night on July 24, after Orange County police allegedly caught him trying to start fires in Mason Park Preserve – the same park where his son had hanged himself in March.
Prosecutors accused Reinscheid of starting five fires at University High School earlier in July, allegedly setting fire to various objects such as newspapers, books, fireplace logs, and a plastic porch chair.
Reinscheid was arrested last week in connection with the fires and posted $50,000 bail.
However, after he bailed out, authorities found emails on his cell phone addressed to his wife describing a plot to burn down the high school, commit sexual assaults and purchase weapons to murder school officials and students there before killing himself, according to Orange County District Attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami.
‘This is unusual, and obviously very alarming. Based on these private emails, it’s clear that he’s a very dangerous person for wanting to murder students and administrators,’ she told MailOnline.
Prosecutors believe Reinscheid was acting alone but it wasn't clear if he was targeting anyone specifically.
'I can only at this point tell you, he laid out in sufficient detail plans to purchase guns and murder lots of people,' Orange County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Katz told The Associated Press.
After the emails were discovered, Ms Emami said Reinscheid was arrested again.
'The emails by themselves do not support a criminal charge but they do support our argument that he should be denied bail because he's dangerous' she told AP.
Reinscheid will now be held without bail in conjunction with his alleged crimes.
‘We believe he’s dangerous, and we believe he’s a risk to public safety,’ Ms Emami told the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Orange County Register, which initially reported the boy’s death, the student was found by a maintenance worker on March 14, and had apparently hanged himself in the park the night before.
He had been disciplined earlier this year, though it is unclear what he did to merit punishment.
A toxicology report conducted by the Orange County Coroner’s Office revealed that the teenager had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
Reinscheid was charged with five counts of arson, one count of attempted arson and a misdemeanour count of resisting or obstructing a police officer. If convicted, he faces 12 years and eight months in prison.
The Orange County D.A.’s office declined to say how exactly Reinscheid’s son was disciplined at the high school, but Irvine United School District spokesman Ian Hanigan told the OCRegister.com that Reinscheid was ‘extremely distraught.'
However, Mr Hanigan added that in the months following his son's suicide, Reinscheid never threatened any of the high school staff, nor acted aggressively toward them.
Reinscheid is a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and has been there for about 12 years, said a university spokeswoman, who referred further comment to authorities.
According to his faculty profile, Reinscheid received his PhD in Neurobiology of Invertebrates from the Center for Molecular Neurobiology in Hamburg, Germany in 1993.
He was awarded two research awards and has been published in several dozen scientific journals, and earned a salary of $87,016 in 2010, according to university records.
Cathy Lawhon, Director of Media Relations for UC Irvine, told MailOnline that Reinscheid is an associate professor who has worked at UC Irvine for 12 years.
She said: ‘We do background checks with everyone who’s hired, and had been alerted by Irvine PD after the first arrest, and campus police had been cooperating with them at that point.’
The university will issue an alert later tonight to inform students about the professor’s arrest.
Reinscheid will next appear in court August 8th for a continued arraignment, as he did not offer a plea in Tuesday's court appearance.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-students-school-officials.html#ixzz23IJwjA1f
A pharmacology professor at the University of California, Irvine is accused of starting several fires at his son’s former high school and plotting to kill both students and administrators.
Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, 48, is charged with setting five fires on the campus of University High School, as well as a local park.
Authorities also found worrying emails Reinscheid sent to his wife in April, which allegedly said how he was going to burn down the school, buy guns, shoot students and administrators, and then kill himself.
His 14-year-old son had been a student there and had been disciplined this past spring before later committing suicide at a nearby park.
The college professor, who earned his PhD in Hamburg, Germany, was arrested in the middle of the night on July 24, after Orange County police allegedly caught him trying to start fires in Mason Park Preserve – the same park where his son had hanged himself in March.
Prosecutors accused Reinscheid of starting five fires at University High School earlier in July, allegedly setting fire to various objects such as newspapers, books, fireplace logs, and a plastic porch chair.
Reinscheid was arrested last week in connection with the fires and posted $50,000 bail.
However, after he bailed out, authorities found emails on his cell phone addressed to his wife describing a plot to burn down the high school, commit sexual assaults and purchase weapons to murder school officials and students there before killing himself, according to Orange County District Attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami.
‘This is unusual, and obviously very alarming. Based on these private emails, it’s clear that he’s a very dangerous person for wanting to murder students and administrators,’ she told MailOnline.
Prosecutors believe Reinscheid was acting alone but it wasn't clear if he was targeting anyone specifically.
'I can only at this point tell you, he laid out in sufficient detail plans to purchase guns and murder lots of people,' Orange County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Katz told The Associated Press.
After the emails were discovered, Ms Emami said Reinscheid was arrested again.
'The emails by themselves do not support a criminal charge but they do support our argument that he should be denied bail because he's dangerous' she told AP.
Reinscheid will now be held without bail in conjunction with his alleged crimes.
‘We believe he’s dangerous, and we believe he’s a risk to public safety,’ Ms Emami told the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Orange County Register, which initially reported the boy’s death, the student was found by a maintenance worker on March 14, and had apparently hanged himself in the park the night before.
He had been disciplined earlier this year, though it is unclear what he did to merit punishment.
A toxicology report conducted by the Orange County Coroner’s Office revealed that the teenager had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
Reinscheid was charged with five counts of arson, one count of attempted arson and a misdemeanour count of resisting or obstructing a police officer. If convicted, he faces 12 years and eight months in prison.
The Orange County D.A.’s office declined to say how exactly Reinscheid’s son was disciplined at the high school, but Irvine United School District spokesman Ian Hanigan told the OCRegister.com that Reinscheid was ‘extremely distraught.'
However, Mr Hanigan added that in the months following his son's suicide, Reinscheid never threatened any of the high school staff, nor acted aggressively toward them.
Reinscheid is a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and has been there for about 12 years, said a university spokeswoman, who referred further comment to authorities.
According to his faculty profile, Reinscheid received his PhD in Neurobiology of Invertebrates from the Center for Molecular Neurobiology in Hamburg, Germany in 1993.
He was awarded two research awards and has been published in several dozen scientific journals, and earned a salary of $87,016 in 2010, according to university records.
Cathy Lawhon, Director of Media Relations for UC Irvine, told MailOnline that Reinscheid is an associate professor who has worked at UC Irvine for 12 years.
She said: ‘We do background checks with everyone who’s hired, and had been alerted by Irvine PD after the first arrest, and campus police had been cooperating with them at that point.’
The university will issue an alert later tonight to inform students about the professor’s arrest.
Reinscheid will next appear in court August 8th for a continued arraignment, as he did not offer a plea in Tuesday's court appearance.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-students-school-officials.html#ixzz23IJwjA1f
