Ex-Bay Area professor pleads guilty to igniting arson fires
(KRON) — A former Bay Area university professor admitted to setting arson blazes around firefighters who were battling the Dixie Fire, the largest single wildfire in California’s history.
Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose, pleaded guilty on Thursday to three counts of arson on federal property. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 9 by U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta.
Prosecutors said Maynard ignited fires in Shasta Trinity National Forest and near the Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest during the summer of 2021. “Maynard set some of his fires behind firefighters who were actively fighting the Dixie Fire, effectively surrounding these firefighters as they responded to one of the largest wildfires in California history,” federal prosecutors wrote.
He was arrested after a U.S. Forest Service officer placed a tracking device under his car.
Maynard taught at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, his ex-roommate in San Jose told KRON4.
The roommate, Kathryn Charpentier, told KRON4 that Maynard is a brilliant but troubled man. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology and three master’s degrees. “He’s a kind person but he deals with mental illness. I gave him a couple cars to live in,” she said.
After losing teaching jobs at multiple universities, Maynard was homeless, had difficulty finding work, and drifted around the Lassen area, Charpentier said. He was living out of a vehicle at the time of the arson spree, authorities said.
Maynard admitted to intentionally sparking the following fires: the Cascade Fire on July 20, 2021, the Everitt Fire on July 21, 2021, the Ranch Fire on Aug. 7, 2021, and the Conard Fire on Aug. 7, 2021.
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The case was investigated by the U.S. Forest Service with assistance from the FBI, CalFire, the California Highway Patrol, and the Lassen County Sheriff’s Department.
Ten percent of California’s wildfires are intentionally lit by arsonists every year, according to Cal Fire.
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