#DIXIE FIRE MAN ARRESTED SERIES#

Maynard vehemently denied setting the California fires, according to court papers. Forest Service investigators working around the clock to track Maynard, those fires would not have been discovered in their infancy.' 'But for the dedication and efforts of U.S.

'Maynard's fires were placed in the perfect position to increase the risk of firefighters being trapped between fires,' the court documents say. However, Maynard is only charged with starting the Ranch Fire. 'It appeared that Maynard was in the midst of an arson-setting spree,' court papers say. Not just once, but over and over again,' federal prosecutors wrote in a bond memo. Agents had installed a tracker on his vehicle. 'Maynard was traveling alone through the forest in isolated areas. 'In addition to the danger of enlarging the Dixie Fire and threatening more lives and property, this increased the danger to the first responders.'

Attorney Michael Anderson wrote in a detention memo. 'He entered the evacuation zone and began setting fires behind the first responders fighting the Dixie Fire,' Assistant U.S. Maynard was reportedly arrested Saturday inside the emergency closure area forced by the large Dixie Fire that is burning up 780 square miles. Law enforcement tracked Maynard's movements for hundreds of miles, which included stops in the areas where the Ranch Fire and Conard Fire started on Saturday in the Lassen National Forest, court papers state. Court papers reveal that law enforcement obtained cellphone search warrants and a warrant allowing a vehicle tracker to be placed on Maynard's Kia. 'This concerned citizen said that Maynard had moved out and was possibly living somewhere out of his vehicle.'Īuthorities reportedly tracked Maynard through his electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card used for public assistance. 'This concerned citizen told officers that Maynard had told her he was suffering from anxiety, depression, split personality, and that he wanted to kill himself,' according to an affidavit. Witness 1 believed the man was mentally unstable, describing the man as, 'mumbling a lot and having bipolar-like behavior,'' the complaint stated, as reported by Law & Crime.Ī second fire ignited the next day on Mount Shasta, and investigators found tire tracks similar to those made by Maynard's Kia, according to court documents.Īuthorities investigated Maynard and discovered that someone called police in October 2020 to express 'concerns' about the college professor, who was working at Santa Clara University, court papers said. 'Witness 1 stated that he had brief interactions with but described concerns about the man's enraged behavior and said that, at one point, the man pulled out a large knife and looked towards Witness 1 for unknown reasons. The occupant, described in court documents as 'Witness 1,' told Murphy that he had been there since the day before and interacted with Murphy.

There was another car parked about 100 feet away from the Kia. Murphy recognized the man's uncooperative and agitated behavior and felt it was safest to distance himself from this man,' the complaint read. 'This man did not come out from under the vehicle and did not identify himself, but instead stayed under the vehicle and mumbled words that (investigator) Murphy could not understand.'Ĭourt papers say Maynard asked Murphy to help tow his vehicle, but when the investigator said he could not assist him, the man became 'uncooperative and agitated' and crawled back under the Kia. 'Murphy introduced himself as an official with the Forest Service and requested the man's name,' court papers read, according to the Sacramento Bee. Forest Service investigator Brian Murphy responded to the reports of fire and encountered a man, later identified as Maynard, underneath a black Kia Soul, which had its front wheels stuck in a ditch and its undercarriage centered on a boulder, court documents allege. Maynard first garnered the attention of authorities on the morning of July 20, which is when mountain bikers first reported a fire on the western slopes of Mount Shasta, according to court papers.

Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, was charged with 'willfully setting fire to any timber, underbrush, or grass upon lands owned by the United States,' an affidavit states.

#DIXIE FIRE MAN ARRESTED SERIES#

A former criminal justice professor was arrested Saturday and accused of setting a series of fires in Northern California near the area where the massive Dixie Fire continues to burn.

Dixie fire man arrested