(CN) — A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Gary Maynard, 47, formerly a professor at Santa Clara University in California, on five counts of arson related to fires set near the Dixie Fire this past summer.
According to the indictment, between July 20 and Aug. 7 Maynard set five different wildland fires in or around two national forests — Trinity National Forest and Lassen National Forest, both located in Northern California where a spate of wildfires broke out in recent years, some of which have grown to become the most destructive and deadly fires in state history. Maynard is charged with setting the Cascade Fire (July 20), the Everitt Fire (July 21), the Ranch Fire (Aug. 7), and the Conard Fire (Aug. 7).
Some of the fires were started behind the Dixie Fire, the second-largest wildland fire in California history that charred nearly 1 million acres and required hundreds of firefighters to respond, three of which were injured severly.
Setting fires behind a large fire with a huge response is dangerous because it drains resources from fighting other fires and could also create a wedge where firefighters are trapped between two expanding blazes.
So far Maynard has not been charged in the Dixie Fire, which the U.S. Forest Service continues to investigate. However, he was seen near the fire’s origin, according to investigators.
Pacific Gas & Electric has reported to regulators that equipment may have malfunctioned at around the time the blaze broke out.
Maynard taught criminal justice and sociology classes on deviant behavior at Sonoma State University and Santa Clara University and was first spotted by a pair of mountain bikers near the origin of the Cascade Fire.
The cyclists told Forest Service investigators Maynard was behaving suspiciously.
“Witness 1 believed the man was mentally unstable, describing the man as, ‘mumbling a lot and having bipolar-like behavior,'” U.S. Forest Service special agent Tyler Bolen said in an affidavit.
Investigators confronted Maynard, who was in a state of agitation due to car trouble. They subsequently noticed a collection of burnt sticks and newspaper ashes near the car.
They released Maynard but not before placing a tracking device on the professor’s car.
After the Cascade Fire, investigators noticed a spate of fires near Mt. Shasta that all showed indications of being intentionally set. During routine investigations, authorities noticed Maynard’s vehicle tracks near the flashpoint of one of the fires.
“Based on the vehicle tracking data that placed (Maynard’s vehicle) at the fire’s origin during the timeframe this fire ignited and learning the results of the origin and cause investigation findings, the evidence indicated that Maynard had set this fire with an unknown fire-setting device,” Bolen wrote.
Authorities say Maynard set another fire on Aug. 7, and they took him into custody when he returned to the scene.
“Based on my training and experience, I know that arsonists have been known to return to their fires,” Bolen wrote.
Maynard worked at Sonoma State University, where he taught classes on criminal justice as a substitute for other tenured professors on vacation or sick leave. He also retained a full-time position at Santa Clara University in the sociology department, according to court documents.
Arson arrests have skyrocketed in recent years. Investigators made 136 arrests for arson in 2021, almost double the number of such arrests in 2016.
If convicted, Maynard faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of arson. Arson to federal property carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Follow @@MatthewCRenda
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
