Former professor who went on 2021 arson spree as big California wildfire raged gets prison
A former criminal justice professor will serve more than five years in prison for intentionally starting fires in the Shasta-Trinity and Lassen national forests in 2021, as firefighters battled the massive Dixie Fire and California dealt with one of the worst wildfire seasons in history.
A federal judge sentenced Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose to five years and three months of prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered Maynard to pay $13,081 in restitution for three counts of arson on federal property, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento announced on Thursday after Maynard's sentencing.
"He intentionally made a dangerous situation more perilous by setting some of his fires behind the men and women fighting the Dixie Fire, potentially cutting off any chance of escape," U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a statement. "It is only because of the quick response by the U.S. Forest Service — and the actions of civilian witnesses — that those fires were extinguished as quickly as they were."
The sentence, Talbert continued, "underscores the danger that Maynard’s fires created and serves as a reminder that federal law enforcement takes seriously the threats to life, property, and our national forests caused by arson.”
The Dixie Fire broke out on July 13, 2021 and became the second largest fire in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Maynard pleaded guilty in February to the three counts of arson on federal government property, admitting he set blazes behind the firefighters "effectively surrounding" them, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The Dixie Fire itself was caused when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines came in contact with a nearby pine tree, igniting the blaze, according to CalFire.
The Dixie Fire went on to burn through five North State counties, including Shasta, Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Lassen. It consumed 963,309 acres, destroyed 1,311 structures and killed one person, according to Cal Fire, which announced the fire was fully contained and under control on Oct. 25, 2021
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Maynard taught at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, where a Gary Maynard was listed as a lecturer in criminal justice studies specializing in criminal justice, cults and deviant behavior. He is no longer with either school, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Forest Service agents began investigating Maynard on July 20, 2021 after the Cascade Fire was reported on the western slopes of Mt. Shasta.
An investigator found Maynard underneath his black Kia Soul that had its front wheels stuck in a ditch and its undercarriage centered on a boulder, according to court records cited by the AP.
A second fire erupted the next day on Mount Shasta and investigators later found tire tracks similar to those made by the Kia, the AP said.
Investigators eventually placed a tracking device under Maynard’s car after he was stopped briefly by police on Aug. 3. Tracking his movements for hundreds of miles, investigators said Maynard traveled to the area where the Ranch and Conard fires erupted in the Lassen National Forest, where the Dixie Fire was also burning at the time.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Former California professor gets prison for arson during Dixie Fire
