California Arsonist Sentenced: Ex-professor Receives 5-year Prison Term for Arson Spree

A former criminal justice professor who started at least seven fires in a year marked by some of California’s most catastrophic wildfires, including one near the 2021 Dixie Fire, was sentenced to five years and three months in jail on Thursday, according to authorities. Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, pled guilty to three charges of arson on government property in February.

Prosecutors stated in their sentencing memorandum that Maynard committed wanton and premeditated acts by starting fires to hurt persons. “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,” US Attorney Phillip A.

Talbert said in a statement announcing the punishment. Maynard was caught in August 2021 after investigators tracked his black Kia Soul for hundreds of miles across Northern California. He filmed himself lighting fires for which he has not been charged, prosecutors stated. Maynard was discovered by authorities during the Cascade Fire, which broke out on Mount Shasta’s western slopes in July 2021.

According to prior Bee reports, the fire was contained before it grew beyond 100 to 200 square feet in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Siskiyou County. The next day, investigators discovered tire tracks identical to those left by a Kia hatchback near a fire burning on Everitt Memorial Highway in Mount Shasta, according to earlier reports.

Authorities installed a tracking device in Maynard’s car and followed him across California while also monitoring his EBT card usage. They located him near where the Ranch and Conard fires started in the Lassen National Forest. He was eventually caught putting out fires in an evacuation zone behind firefighters battling the Dixie Fire, California’s second-largest wildfire, prosecutors said.

Maynard had untreated mental health concerns and was destitute when the arson binge began, according to a sentencing document filed by his counsel. He has attempted to address his diseases while in custody and will continue to do so in prison, according to the defense.

Maynard taught at several schools, including Santa Clara University’s sociology department and Sonoma State University, where he specialized in criminal justice, cults, and deviant conduct.