(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.