Firebug Professor Nabbed For Arson Spree Near California’s Massive Dixie Wildfire

A firebug professor has been arrested for going on an arson spree and starting a series of forest fires near California's massive Dixie wildfire.

Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, a former criminal justice professor who previously taught at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University, has been taken into custody on Saturday, Aug. 7, and charged with intentionally setting multiple fires in Lassen National Forest and Shasta Trinity National Forest late last month, Fox News reported.

"Over the course of the last several weeks, Maynard has set a series of fires in the vicinity of the Lassen National Forest and Shasta Trinity National Forest," Michael Anderson, Assistant U.S. Attorney wrote in a detention memo.

Maynard reportedly chose to start fires near the ongoing Dixie blaze which still has not been contained despite almost 5,000 personnel working day and night to douse the fire.

Authorities started monitoring Maynard on June 20 after they found him near the premises of Mount Shasta where the Cascade Fires began. When authorities responded to the scene, they reportedly found Maynard underneath a black Kia Soul with its front wheels stuck in a ditch as well as its undercarriage on top of a boulder.

Maynard reportedly denied any knowledge of the fire and became "uncooperative and agitated" towards the officer during the time, according to court filings.

When investigators reached Mount Shasta the next day after a second fire was reported, they discovered tire tracks similar to those from Maynard's Kia. Following this, authorities started tracking Maynard’s movements and eventually placed a tracking device on his car. The tracking device pinned Maynard to the areas where the Ranch Fire and Conard Fire erupted, according to Law & Crime.

“Where Maynard went, fires started. Not just once, but over and over again,” federal prosecutors reportedly wrote in the bond memo filed on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

"It appeared that Maynard was in the midst of an arson-setting spree," court papers said.

Maynard was finally arrested on Saturday, Aug. 7 when he was found in an area that was under emergency closure orders due to the Dixie Fire.

"He entered the evacuation zone and began setting fires behind the first responders fighting the Dixie Fire," Anderson wrote in the detention memo. "In addition to the danger of enlarging the Dixie Fire and threatening more lives and property, this increased the danger to the first responders."

Maynard reportedly appeared in federal court on Wednesday, Aug. 11, and was ordered to be held without bond until his next hearing scheduled on Aug. 24.