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A criminal justice professor was allegedly involved in an arson attack in northern California alongside the massive Dixie fire in late July.
Gary Maynard, 47, started a series of fires in Lassen National Forest and Shasta Trinity National Forest, a rural area in northern California near where the Dixie Fire, the second largest in state history is still burning, according to federal prosecutors. California Forestry Department agents arrested him on Saturday. He is accused of intentionally setting fire to public land and is being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail.
“There are simply no conditions that could be fashioned that could ensure public safety in relation to this accused,” a federal prosecutor told the presiding judge on Tuesday, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Police described Maynard’s temper as highly flammable.
He denied the allegations made against him. According to court documents, he shouted at the Lassen County Jail police, “I’m going to kill you, you fucking pig!” I told these f — kers that I hadn’t started any of these fires! “
Maynard appears to have taught at Sonoma State and Santa Clara Universities, according to faculty pages from both colleges, which list a Dr. Gary Maynard as a lecturer in criminology. His research focuses on “criminal justice, social science research methods, cults and deviant behavior”. Maynard’s faculty page at Sonoma State describes him as having three master’s degrees and a doctorate. in sociology.
A spokesperson for Sonoma State said the bee was a part-time lecturer in the criminal justice department replacing a faculty member on leave.
“He was working at Sonoma State University in the fall of 2020, but did not have an appointment for the spring of 2021. He taught two seminars in criminology and criminal justice studies in the fall of 2020,” a- she declared.
Forest Service officers began examining it on July 20, when an officer discovered it on Mount Shasta under his Kia Soul, the wheels of which were stuck in a ditch. The investigator had come to the area after mountain bikers reported an incipient fire. When the officer asked Maynard to get out from under the car and identify himself, the professor refused, only muttering words the officer couldn’t hear.
The officer eventually coaxed Maynard from under the car and asked him about the blaze, which the professor said he didn’t know about the fires. Maynard called for help towing his vehicle, and when the officer said he couldn’t help, Maynard became “uncooperative and agitated” and crawled under. A witness said he later saw Maynard wield a large knife.
Forest Service investigators said they found traces similar to Maynard’s Kia near a fire that broke out overnight at another location on Mount Shasta.
During their investigation into Maynard, Forest Service investigators placed a tracker on the Kia. The tracker reportedly showed them that the academic had traveled to areas of the Lassen National Forest where the Ranch and Conard fires started on Saturday night. Forest Service agents arrested Maynard later in the day.
Court documents describe the professor’s behavior in blunt terms: “It appeared Maynard was in the midst of a wave of arson attacks. “
Maynard is said to have even tried to trap firefighters between the fires he was starting and the limits of the Dixie Fire.
“He entered the evacuation area and started setting fires behind first responders fighting the Dixie Fire,” the court documents read. “In addition to the danger of expanding the Dixie fire and threatening more lives and property, it has increased the danger to first responders.”
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