Mentally ill leftist ex-college instructor arrested in connection with 'arson-setting spree' near Dixie fire

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-11/former-college-
instructor-linked-to-arson-spree-near-the-dixie-fire

A former college instructor linked to a rash of arson fires has been
arrested and charged with igniting a blaze on federal forest land, not far
from the site of the massive Dixie fire in Northern California.

Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, has been charged with willfully starting the
Ranch fire, which sparked Aug. 7 in Lassen National Forest and burned
about an acre, according to documents filed in federal court this week.

Maynard is also suspected in at least six other fires that ignited in the
Lassen and Shasta-Trinity National Forests in the last month.

“It appeared that Maynard was in the midst of an arson-setting spree,” the
documents say.

Investigators first encountered Maynard at the scene of the Cascade fire,
a July 20 blaze in a remote part of Shasta-Trinity, according to an
affidavit from U.S. Forest Service special agent Tyler Bolem supporting
the arrest warrant.

A witness said Maynard arrived in the area that morning and appeared
mentally unstable, at one point threatening the witness with a knife. He
recalled Maynard “walking away in the same direction that the Cascade Fire
soon ignited” before returning about ten minutes later, the affidavit
said.

Maynard was still at the scene when a fire investigator arrived because
his car was stuck in a rut. The investigator said he was agitated and
uncooperative when questioned.

A search of the site led to burned areas on the ground consisting of
sticks, newspaper material and a wooden match.

“After visiting the scene and reviewing the facts in the case, I concurred
that the ignition of this fire was not only suspicious, but consistent
with arson,” Bolem said.

When a second fire erupted early the next morning near the Everitt
Memorial Highway on Mt. Shasta, tire tracks at the scene matched those of
Maynard’s car.

In the weeks that followed, investigators used tire tracks, location data,
EBT card activity and vehicle records to link Maynard to the sites of
several other fires at the time of their ignition. Charges have not been
filed in those cases.

He was arrested Saturday in a restricted area near the scene of the Conard
fire, which was sparked the same day as the Ranch fire about three miles
away. Tracking device data showed he had stopped at the location for about
30 minutes.

The arrest comes as firefighters struggle to contain the monstrous Dixie
fire, which swelled to more than a half-million acres Wednesday. It is one
of 11 major wildfires burning across the drought-ravaged state, the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Officials have long warned that even a single spark can grow into a
massive fire amid the region’s bone-dry vegetation and record-breaking
heat.

While most of the fires allegedly linked to Maynard remained small, at
least one — the Bradley fire of July 11 — destroyed more than 300 acres of
forestland.

The investigation into that fire is ongoing, documents said, and arson has
not been ruled out. Tire impressions at the remote site appear to match
Maynard’s car.

Maynard denied setting any fires, court documents say. He told
investigators he was a university professor.

A spokeswoman for Sonoma State confirmed that he worked as a part-time
lecturer last fall, teaching two seminars in criminology and criminal
justice studies.

He had been contracted to fill in for a faculty member on leave and was
not reappointed this spring, the spokeswoman said.

He also worked as an adjunct faculty member at Santa Clara University from
September 2019 to December 2020, a university spokeswoman confirmed.

According to the affidavit, a colleague at Santa Clara University
contacted the San Jose Police Department in October with concerns about
Maynard’s mental state and wellbeing.

Maynard is in federal custody in Sacramento, records show. A detention
hearing is set for Wednesday.

In a detention memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Anderson asked that
he not be released on the basis that he is a “significant danger to the
public.”

“The area in which Maynard chose to set his fires is near the ongoing
Dixie fire, a fire which is still not contained despite the deployment and
efforts of over 5,000 personnel,” Anderson said.

He noted that many of the fires linked to Maynard had been set behind fire
lines and in evacuation zones.

“In addition to the danger of enlarging the Dixie fire and threatening
more lives and property,” he said, “this increased the danger to the first
responders.”



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