Man Sentenced to 57 Months for Apartment Building Arson Where His Family Members Resided

WASHINGTON - Ronnie Bookhardt, 64, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today for the arson of a residential apartment building, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Bookhardt pleaded guilty on February 9, 2026, in D.C. Superior Court to one count of arson. In addition to the prison term, the Honorable Judith Pipe order Bookhardt to three years of supervised release.

According to the government's evidence, at about 4:48 a.m., on October 20, 2022, D.C. Fire Department Investigators responded to the sound of an alarm generated at a residential, 4-story apartment building located at 601 L Street Southeast in Washington, D.C. Fire Investigators noted an odor of gasoline in front of one of the units, in addition to substantial fire damage and water damage from two activated sprinkler heads in the hallway in front of the unit. Video surveillance footage captured the defendant entering a stairwell in the apartment building, stopping in front of a unit, manipulating a lighter, and pouring lighter fluid from a black plastic bag, causing a bright flash of fire in the stairwell. It was later determined that the defendant lit the fire near a unit in which his family members resided. Building staff later reported that the water damage caused by the fire far exceeded the fire damage. The cost of the damage was over $200,000.

Bookhardt was arrested on October 22, 2022, where he has been in custody since.

Joining the announcement was Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro and Interim Chief Carroll commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department, D.C. Fire Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmine Dohemann, who prosecuted the case.

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