A former college professor from San Jose has been sentenced to over five years in federal prison for intentionally lighting fires as crews battled the destructive Dixie Fire that tore through five counties in Northern California in 2021.  

Gary Maynard, 49, pleaded guilty in February to three counts of arson on federal property, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert.  

According to prosecutors, Maynard deliberately set a series of fires in Shasta-Trinity National Forest near the ongoing Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest. Maynard set some of his fires behind firefighters who were actively fighting the Dixie inferno, effectively surrounded them and in some cases potentially trapping them in. 

“Maynard went on an arson spree on federal land while California faced one of the worst fire seasons in history,” said Talbert on Thursday. “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.”  

Maynard admitted to setting the Cascade and Everitt fires in July 2021 and the Ranch and Conard fires in August 2021 and was given five years and three months in federal prison, a little bit over the mandatory minimum of five years given for federal arson crimes. 

According to San Diego State University, which has linked to some of Maynard’s academic publications, he has a PhD in sociology and taught criminology at Sonoma State and Santa Clara universities.  

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.