Former professor sentenced for starting fires behind crews who were battling the Dixie Fire in 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION-TV)- A former Sonoma State professor was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for igniting three fires behind firefighters who were battling the Dixie Fire.
Prosecutors said that 49-year-old Gary Maynard was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay just over $13,000 in restitution for three counts of arson on federal property during the Dixie Fire.
U.S. District Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said that Maynard went on an arson spree on Federal Land while the state faced one of the worst fire seasons in history.
"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," Talbert said in a statement.
The Dixie Fire burned more than 960,000 acres over three months across Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama counties. The only fire to burn more acres was the 2020 August Complex Fire, which scorched more than a million acres across seven Northern California counties.
Maynard who is a former criminal justice professor at Sonoma State admitted to setting four different fires within a week span on July 20, 21 and Aug. 7, 2021.
Prosecutors said that the maximum sentence for each count was 20 years in state prison and a $250,000 fine, while the minimum sentence for arson on federal property is five years in prison.
