Former California Professor Indicted on Arson Charges After Setting Four Wildfires

A former California professor has been indicted on arson charges after allegedly starting four wildfires.

On Thursday, 47-year-old Gary Stephen Maynard of San Jose was indicted on four counts of arson to federal property and one count of setting timber afire, NBC News reports. The fires were reportedly located where the huge Dixie Fire was last year; he was not charged for the Dixie Fire.

The news outlet reports Maynard started the four fires in July and August. At the time, firefighters were trying to extinguish the Dixie Fire. Firefighters were able to kill two of Maynard’s fires. Firefighters were able to break off between 200 square feet and less than one acre, court documents state.

Maynard, who worked as an adjunct faculty member and part-time lecturer at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, previously denied starting the fires back when he was arrested in August. When he set the fires, Maynard was repotedly living in his car. He’s now looking at 20 years in prison for each arson count.