Northern California College Professor Arrested for Arson

A college professor has been charged with a series of arson fires in isolated forested areas of Lassen County, California, near the enormous Dixie Fire.

The Sacramento Bee reports Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, worked at several California colleges, including Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University. He was listed as a lecturer in criminal justice studies specializing in criminal justice, cults, and deviant behavior under the name Dr. Gary Maynard.

Julia Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Sonoma State University, told the paper that the school no longer employed Maynard. His profile page was removed moments after they were asked for comment. In an email to the Sacramento Bee, Gonzalez stated that Maynard “was employed with Sonoma State University in Fall 2020, but did not have an appointment for Spring 2021” and “he was a part-time lecturer in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.” She went on to say, “Mr. Maynard was contracted to fill in for a faculty member who was on leave. He taught two seminars in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies in Fall 2020.”

Santa Clara University also confirmed Maynard worked as an “adjunct faculty member in the sociology department at Santa Clara University from September 2019 to December 2020.”

Maynard was arrested on August 14 ​​due to an investigation that began on July 20 and included a US Forest Service agent planting a tracking device under his car after Susanville police pulled him over on August 3.

Maynard will remain in custody until at least August 24, the date of his preliminary hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Anderson told the Judge, “There are simply no conditions that could be fashioned that could ensure the safety of the public with respect to this defendant.” Maynard faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for willfully setting the Ranch Fire in Lassen County.

According to court documents, investigators followed Maynard’s residence to San Jose, where a concerned individual called police in October 2020 “with concerns about their colleague, Maynard, who worked as a professor at Santa Clara University.” According to the affidavit, a “concerned citizen told officers that Maynard had told her he was suffering from anxiety, depression, split personality, and that he wanted to kill himself.” The concerned citizen also said that “Maynard had moved out and was possibly living somewhere out of his vehicle.”

Court documents state that authorities began tracing Maynard’s activities using his electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card and store video records. The documents also say they secured cell phone search warrants and a warrant enabling a vehicle tracker to be installed on Maynard’s car. Detectives used this information to follow his activities for hundreds of miles, including to locations where multiple fires started in the Lassen National Forest. The papers stated, “it appeared that Maynard was in the midst of an arson-setting spree.”

 

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