Gary Maynard, 47, taught Criminal Justice courses at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, FOX 40 of Sacramento reported, citing information from Maynard’s bio page on the Sonoma State website.
That page was not working on Tuesday night.
Maynard was facing charges of arson in connection with the Ranch Fire as well as unauthorized entry into a closed area, FOX 40 reported. He was arrested Saturday following an investigation that began in July, according to the station.
Court documents indicate that the Ranch Fire and six other fires started between July 6 and Aug. 7 near the Lassen National Forest and Shasta-Trinity National Forest, both in Northern California. The three most recent fires, including the Ranch Fire, started in the area of the Dixie Fire, the report said.
"The area in which Maynard chose to set his fires is near the ongoing Dixie Fire, a fire which is still not contained despite the deployment and efforts of over 5,000 personnel," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Anderson wrote in a memo, according to FOX 40.
Anderson argued that Maynard should remain in custody pending further legal action.
Yeah, that tells me either, 1) he had accomplices that got caught or decided to rat him out, 2) he inadvertently ratted himself out to someone who then informed the police, 3) he was being paid to start these fires and his handlers betrayed him in time to serve as some sort of distraction (like, say, Lindell's Cyber Symposium).
I'm gonna go out in a limb and say it's a mixture of all 3. The timing on this is too good to be anything but a distraction. Yesterday's news from the Symposium was too great, too powerful, and too truthful for [them] to just ignore it.
Whatever the reason for the timing, or whatever else, this guy was a supreme idiot and deserves his fate.
Personally, if there's any deaths resulting from those fires, he needs the death penalty. Life in prison at the very least.