SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted a college instructor with arson counts in connection with a series of fires set last summer near the massive Dixie Fire.
Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, of San Jose originally was charged in the case in August and now faces four counts of arson to federal property and a count of setting timber afire.
Each arson count carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Maynard is accused of setting fires July 20 in the Cascade Fire in Siskiyou County, one day later in the Everitt Fire in Siskiyou, and fires on Aug. 7 at the Ranch Fire and Conrad fire in Lassen County.
The count of setting timber afire stems from the Ranch Fire, the indictment says.
Maynard worked at a number of colleges in California, including Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, where he was a lecturer in criminal justice studies specializing in criminal justice, cults and deviant behavior.
He was arrested after an investigation that began in July and included a tracking device being placed on his vehicle while he had been stopped by Susanville police, court records say.
Maynard has been held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail since his arrest.
