Teacher sentenced to more than 5 years in prison for 2021 arson near Dixie Fire

A former San Jose college professor was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for Intentionally setting fires as crews battled the destructive Dixie Fire that ravaged five Northern California counties 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 started a series of fires in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, near the ongoing Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest. Maynard started some of his fires behind the firefighters who were actively battling Dixie's inferno, effectively surrounding them and, in some cases, potentially trapping them.

“Maynard engaged in arson on federal lands while California was facing one of the worst fire seasons in history,” Talbert said Thursday. “He intentionally made a dangerous situation even more perilous by placing some of his fires behind the men and women fighting the Dixie Fire, potentially cutting off any chance of escape.”

Maynard admitted to starting the Cascade and Everitt fires in July 2021, and the Ranch and Conard fires in August 2021. He was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison, just above the mandatory minimum of five years granted for federal arson. .

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