Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California(npr.org)
npr.org
Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/11/1026700103/former-college-professor-arson-charges-california-dixie-fire
75 comments
> Maynard was identified after his car got stuck near a fire, court records say
It's in the article.
It's in the article.
The affidavit is pretty thorough, even before pulling his cell phone info.
"A Forest Service fire investigator determined the Cascade Fire was likely the result of arson. He also noticed that on a dirt road 150 to 200 yards from the fire, a man was struggling to free his car, a black Kia Soul, after the vehicle's rear had failed to clear a partially buried boulder."
If you're going to be a wildlands arsonist, best to find the proper vehicle.
"A Forest Service fire investigator determined the Cascade Fire was likely the result of arson. He also noticed that on a dirt road 150 to 200 yards from the fire, a man was struggling to free his car, a black Kia Soul, after the vehicle's rear had failed to clear a partially buried boulder."
If you're going to be a wildlands arsonist, best to find the proper vehicle.
So the whole proof is that he was there at the time? Shouldn't there be more proof especially that they are linking him to "all" the fires now?
The document is actually very interesting, it goes into great detail of exactly how they tracked him. There is so much evidence in it, really a good read. They ended up tracking him with a GPS tracker to prove he set the fire they charged him with.
> Forest Service agents also measured and recorded data about the tire tread pattern left by Maynard's car — evidence that they say ties him to a string of arson wildfires.
That's linking his car to the fire. That's from the article, I'm sure the affidavit itself has more.
That's linking his car to the fire. That's from the article, I'm sure the affidavit itself has more.
The article points out that the person who first spotted the smoke also saw the man walking back from the location of the starting of the fire, about 10 minutes after it started.
Now that they have a warrant and can track his movements, he is coincident with several other fire origins.
Now that they have a warrant and can track his movements, he is coincident with several other fire origins.
No, just read it. That incident had nearby suspicious fire remants. Combined with his unusual behavior and similar car tracks being found at another fire was their basis for further tracking of the alleged arsonist.
Reading the above comment, this was the necessary point to pull his cell phone info, not link him to "all" fires; after such a suspicious interaction, the warrant was granted to pull records, and the case strengthened further.
Apparently in the last fire, just before he was caught, he got his car struck. His behavior attracted attention of a hiker. He was observed and filmed by this concerned citizen who contacted authorities. That filming including getting his picture plus the license plate on his car. That cinched enough to know his identity and suspicion.
Once he became a suspect to the level, a court order to get phone records would be easy.
The moment your phone is on, it is constantly keeping a full data handshake and connection to any base station nearby and to phone company switching computers. You are constantly "under surveillance" in a geographic sense if you have a cell phone turned on (with or without a valid SIM card - the phones serial number gets logged even if an account isn't validated). Having it this way is the only way an in-coming call could ever be routed to you!
Remember phone switches are all Unix based and they have log files constantly filling just like any desktop system. Literally just "grep" the files. The most amusing experience related to this I ever had was being able to talk to my uncle who was blue-collar AT&T technician. But he knew his Unix.
Once he became a suspect to the level, a court order to get phone records would be easy.
The moment your phone is on, it is constantly keeping a full data handshake and connection to any base station nearby and to phone company switching computers. You are constantly "under surveillance" in a geographic sense if you have a cell phone turned on (with or without a valid SIM card - the phones serial number gets logged even if an account isn't validated). Having it this way is the only way an in-coming call could ever be routed to you!
Remember phone switches are all Unix based and they have log files constantly filling just like any desktop system. Literally just "grep" the files. The most amusing experience related to this I ever had was being able to talk to my uncle who was blue-collar AT&T technician. But he knew his Unix.
Granted I live on the west coast and fires have been very much on my mind in the past few years, but I do wholeheartedly support the most draconian punishments for arsonists who start wild fires. It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals.
>It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals.
How's that strategy working out for deterring murderers and drug dealers?
How's that strategy working out for deterring murderers and drug dealers?
It will probably work as well as it does for murderers. There's not really a demand for murder so there's not continually new people filling their shoes when they get arrested.
Drug dealers on the other hand will never go away no matter how many you arrest. There will always be more people willing to buy drugs and a new dealer ready to step up and make a profit.
Drug dealers on the other hand will never go away no matter how many you arrest. There will always be more people willing to buy drugs and a new dealer ready to step up and make a profit.
> Drug dealers on the other hand will never go away no matter how many you arrest. There will always be more people willing to buy drugs and a new dealer ready to step up and make a profit.
Singapore and Saudi Arabia might object. Punishments always have some marginal effect; the question is how severe they need to be to achieve the desired effect magnitude, and whether the direct and indirect costs are acceptable.
Singapore and Saudi Arabia might object. Punishments always have some marginal effect; the question is how severe they need to be to achieve the desired effect magnitude, and whether the direct and indirect costs are acceptable.
Of course you also assumed "draconian punishments" equates to "lack of due process". As if punishing murderers is inherently wrong and goes against your very finely tuned civil liberties instincts.
When murderers and drug dealers make centuries long and very undesirable changes in the global climate, let me know.
To be fair, if you execute a murderer they're not going to do it anymore.
And, if you execute somebody who is, in fact, not one, you become one.
We don't have data to say that it's not working.
It's still happening... is that data?
Not really. Rates exist between 0% and 100%.
How many deterred murderers do you think need to exist for it to be worth prosecuting and harshly punishing murder?
Though even after knowing your answer to that question... I'm not eager to live in your experiment's "murder is fine" group...
How many deterred murderers do you think need to exist for it to be worth prosecuting and harshly punishing murder?
Though even after knowing your answer to that question... I'm not eager to live in your experiment's "murder is fine" group...
Do you also support draconian punishments for people and organizations who blocked controlled burns and other wildfire control measures?
You trolling? You know that wasnt their intention and was disingenuous of you to play it that way.
Some of this was done out of greed and political corruption so that developers could build more unaffordable housing for the wealthy - I would say the gp has some merit in their comment.
I have never seen that claim before.
My understanding is that lack of wild and controlled burns can be attributed to two factors:
1) Emotion driven environmentalism trumping environmental scientists
2) Political deferral due to the risk of blowback from out of control burns.
My understanding is that lack of wild and controlled burns can be attributed to two factors:
1) Emotion driven environmentalism trumping environmental scientists
2) Political deferral due to the risk of blowback from out of control burns.
The corrupt developers don't like to publicize their corruption. I happen to know this because I know some of the players (and was even offered opportunities to invest in land before the decision to build a new highway was made public).
I feel like I am missing a few steps.
So the claim is that housing developers have been suppressing controlled burns because it drives up housing prices? I feel like I am missing a few steps here
I'd add..
3) The urban public likes purty forests to go vacation in.
3) The urban public likes purty forests to go vacation in.
At this point the environmental lobby can hardly claim ignorance.
Whataboutism special on aisle 4.
EDIT: I also feel like you're (believe it or not) politicizing this as conservatives and libertarians in favor of controlled burns and arson (yes, that is exactly what you sound like), and hippie dippie out of touch leftist urbanites being the real root cause of all this because of their supposed intolerance of controlled burns.
EDIT: I also feel like you're (believe it or not) politicizing this as conservatives and libertarians in favor of controlled burns and arson (yes, that is exactly what you sound like), and hippie dippie out of touch leftist urbanites being the real root cause of all this because of their supposed intolerance of controlled burns.
Perhaps we could solve two problems at once by directing arsonists to locations of planned controlled burns. Everybody wins: the arsonists get to start fires and the forests are properly culled to the benefit of all.
Afterwards everybody could get together, drink a cold beer, tell stories, bitch about how hard it is to be an arsonist and the lousy pay, and argue about who is the best arsonist!
Heck, CA needs so many controlled burns that they could create jobs for arsonists, thus preventing them from initiating disasters b/c of their failed "theatre arts" attempts. "Hello, Thompson, Department of Arson. Burn, Baby, Burn! How can I help you?"
This would also alleviate other states' problems as most arsonists would move to CA to get a steady job.
Afterwards everybody could get together, drink a cold beer, tell stories, bitch about how hard it is to be an arsonist and the lousy pay, and argue about who is the best arsonist!
Heck, CA needs so many controlled burns that they could create jobs for arsonists, thus preventing them from initiating disasters b/c of their failed "theatre arts" attempts. "Hello, Thompson, Department of Arson. Burn, Baby, Burn! How can I help you?"
This would also alleviate other states' problems as most arsonists would move to CA to get a steady job.
I think rehabilitation should be prioritized where improvement is possible. Reading about his alleged behavior -- muttering, pulling a knife on a witness who was trying to help him and agitated outbursts -- this seems like some mental issue that could be helped in time.
Two points here:
- It's interesting how his academic background in criminology is in an area tangentially related to his own alleged social deviance -- maybe a "call of the void" type deal, in the sense that (anecdotally) some people who have a lifetime academic fixation on particular subject matter eventually reveal that it is somehow linked to their own deviant obsessions with it.
- It's also interesting how many law enforcement agencies there are embedded in the federal government, and how they basically have the same powers as one another. I recall surprise upon learning for the first time that the USPS has its own law enforcement agency back when Steve Bannon was arrested by postal inspectors last year, and am newly surprised to learn that the USFS has an equally well-equipped (in terms of warrant powers) police force.
- It's interesting how his academic background in criminology is in an area tangentially related to his own alleged social deviance -- maybe a "call of the void" type deal, in the sense that (anecdotally) some people who have a lifetime academic fixation on particular subject matter eventually reveal that it is somehow linked to their own deviant obsessions with it.
- It's also interesting how many law enforcement agencies there are embedded in the federal government, and how they basically have the same powers as one another. I recall surprise upon learning for the first time that the USPS has its own law enforcement agency back when Steve Bannon was arrested by postal inspectors last year, and am newly surprised to learn that the USFS has an equally well-equipped (in terms of warrant powers) police force.
Dont cross double yellow lines and speed passed any state fish and wildlife ranger either. A good number of state and federal officials are put in enforcement situations and without that authority would be severely lacking in fulfilling their jobs.
I’ve been told that in some states, wildlife and marine ranger have more authority than other law enforcement. Not sure if that’s apples & apples or apples & ooranges though
It is very common for park rangers to behave like they are the king of the park. They may have a geographically limited powers, but they consider them absolute.
The traditional name for this is "research is me-search".
"call of the void" => I believe another phrase you may be looking for is "imp of the perverse".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imp_of_the_Perverse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imp_of_the_Perverse
Only slightly related, but how many real "call of the void" situations are really that? Most seem to be retrospective observations. For example, a criminal studying criminology because they like crime. Then when they are caught people suggest they were tempted by their studies, switching the causation.
The only situations I can really think of is more of like "stare long enough into the void and it stares back" where people fight an injustice long enough that they start to justify extreme measures to fight it. For example, like assuming all people accused of a crime are likely guilty so suspending privacy or searching people without cause is fine.
The only situations I can really think of is more of like "stare long enough into the void and it stares back" where people fight an injustice long enough that they start to justify extreme measures to fight it. For example, like assuming all people accused of a crime are likely guilty so suspending privacy or searching people without cause is fine.
>The only situations I can really think of is more of like "stare long enough into the void and it stares back" where people fight an injustice long enough that they start to justify extreme measures to fight it. For example, like assuming all people accused of a crime are likely guilty so suspending privacy or searching people without cause is fine.
Seems there's a rash of that going on recently.
Seems there's a rash of that going on recently.
> I recall surprise upon learning for the first time that the USPS has its own law enforcement agency
As someone put it to me a while ago, "the US military is so big that not only does its navy have its own army, but its navy's army's air force is the 8th largest in the world."[1]
[1] US Navy's army = US Marine corps; navy's army's air force = USMC Aviation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Avi... .
As someone put it to me a while ago, "the US military is so big that not only does its navy have its own army, but its navy's army's air force is the 8th largest in the world."[1]
[1] US Navy's army = US Marine corps; navy's army's air force = USMC Aviation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Avi... .
Related factoid; the US Navy is the world's second largest air force.. second only to the US Air Force itself. And if you split Alaska in two, Texas would be the third largest state.
There's a whole list of LEAs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the.... I guess laws that are specific to just one department of the executive branch have to be enforced by the corresponding LEA from that department?
They can all arrest for any federal violation. But their investigative responsibilities are divided. In many states they can also arrest for non-federal violations, but must deliver the arrested to local authority.
> USPS has its own law enforcement agency
The United States Postal Inspection Service is actually the oldest of all federal law enforcement agencies. It's as old as this country is.
The United States Postal Inspection Service is actually the oldest of all federal law enforcement agencies. It's as old as this country is.
Not the point of the story, but a college professor with three masters and a doctorate was enrolled in the EBT program. I'm sure people will doubt the use of several of his masters degrees, theater arts in particular, but that's still nuts.
Difficult to hold a job with what is apparently untreated mental illness.
That he completed the programs beforehand is what makes it surprising.
I missed the "former" part, I focused too much on the fall 2020 hiring.
Even harder to get a job with a theatre arts degree!8-))
But seriously, where does it say he has a theatre arts degree?
But seriously, where does it say he has a theatre arts degree?
In the link to his hiring by Sonoma State University.
From what I've heard, EBT fraud in California is incredibly simple[1], so I wouldn't be surprised if a serial arsonist wasn't also defrauding the government for kicks.
[1] See also: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...
[1] See also: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...
> From what I've heard, EBT fraud in California is incredibly simple[1], so I wouldn't be surprised if a serial arsonist wasn't also defrauding the government for kicks.
> [1] See also: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...
Your link is regarding unemployment benefits fraud, EBT is something entirely different.
> [1] See also: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...
Your link is regarding unemployment benefits fraud, EBT is something entirely different.
Does anyone know more about the mental state that inspires people to commit arson?
Drug dealing or murder often have selfish or monetary gains; but what is gained from burning the wildlands? Is it a power thing?
Calling all armchair psychologists
Drug dealing or murder often have selfish or monetary gains; but what is gained from burning the wildlands? Is it a power thing?
Calling all armchair psychologists
Bolshevism. This dossier points to a person that believes they are saving the world.
What in the world does this have to do with Bolshevism?
Bolshevism is the belief that the system must be destroyed by an onslaught of random chaos before the glorious revolution will be possible.
Bolshevism has nothing to do with "an onslaught of random chaos". Maybe you have it confused with a crude understanding of Nihilism.
No, it's not. You've conflated a rigid hierarchical party system with discordianism or accelerationism.
well it looks like the perp's accademic area was criminology so maybe we could ask him
Ran into a kid at a birthday party that had an unhealthy obsession with sneaking the matches away. The look on their face when They realized I was watching, and the other parents were distracted, was disturbing. Their parent blew it off, but the obsession was intense.
Somewhat. It really kind of depends. It can be that. It can be a visceral thrill at the intellectual understanding of what one is setting in motion. (A fire can be considered an early manifestation of network effect. You invite the coordinated release of energy in proximate fuel sources). It can be a symbolic thing (catharsis through slipping out of the bonds of civilizational control and unleashing the most primal manifestations of the oppressor on themselves). It can be an act of creative destruction, (a time to build, a time to destroy; ashes to ashes). It can just be liberating in the sense the ensuing chaos causes an incontrovertible shift in the world around them in pretty much any sphere you can imagine. It can be joy of equality found at last. All are made equal in the face of Natural forces. For some it's about finding resonance between a state of internal emotional turmoil and external circumstance. (I want to burn until there is nothing left to burn about.) Or think of how one in pain may injure themselves or inflict an acute pain on themselves to distract them from an unceasing pain. I have a feeling that for many, it's as simple as "it felt like the thing to do at the time".
Interestingly enough, arson was one of the original capital offenses in many traditions of justice systems as the building techniques of primitive cultures are often not terribly resilient in the face of malicious fire starting.
Interestingly enough, arson was one of the original capital offenses in many traditions of justice systems as the building techniques of primitive cultures are often not terribly resilient in the face of malicious fire starting.
A DDG search for "any studies of arsonism" and "specialist in psychology of arson" found many sources.
A quick skim indicates that arsons all share the common property that they are generally AFU'ed:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AFU
A quick skim indicates that arsons all share the common property that they are generally AFU'ed:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AFU
Anyone who, when told by an officer of the law that they are being charged with a felony, responds with: "I'm going to kill you, f**ing pig!"...is not a person who is making good choices. IANAPsychiatrist, but that sounds mental.
What are the chances any one person would just be at all the right times in the right places, how many people on average?
To secure a conviction based on just that, you'd want to answer "around 0.01 people" to that second question as well as prove that all of these fires were in fact arson. It would mean you get the wrong guy only every one hundred (set of) fires on average.
To secure a conviction based on just that, you'd want to answer "around 0.01 people" to that second question as well as prove that all of these fires were in fact arson. It would mean you get the wrong guy only every one hundred (set of) fires on average.
Reminds me of this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr
Looks like the perpetrator made an entry on Google Maps attempting to make a PAC[0]:
Dr. Gary Maynard For President 2020 Exectutive Committee and PAC
"My First and NOT the last Run for the Presidency of the United States of America - this is my PAC and you can donate to my cause once you have seen who I am and why I am running! I am Dr. Gary Maynard - Social Scientist and Nearly Unmatched Understander of ALL Human behavior. I am running to wrest total, complete and permanent control of the world from the ever expanding Oblivion Arms of the Vampire Squid I call, as do many others, THE CONSORTIUM! They have names, addresses, family and people they call friends. They are not apparitions and are immortal demonic creations! They breathe air, eat food, drink the poisons they put in our water and they bleed and Die when God comes to harvest their rotting souls!! Who are they? Where are they?"
Looks like a pretty severe mental health crisis.
[0]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dr.+Gary+Maynard+For+Presi...
Dr. Gary Maynard For President 2020 Exectutive Committee and PAC
"My First and NOT the last Run for the Presidency of the United States of America - this is my PAC and you can donate to my cause once you have seen who I am and why I am running! I am Dr. Gary Maynard - Social Scientist and Nearly Unmatched Understander of ALL Human behavior. I am running to wrest total, complete and permanent control of the world from the ever expanding Oblivion Arms of the Vampire Squid I call, as do many others, THE CONSORTIUM! They have names, addresses, family and people they call friends. They are not apparitions and are immortal demonic creations! They breathe air, eat food, drink the poisons they put in our water and they bleed and Die when God comes to harvest their rotting souls!! Who are they? Where are they?"
Looks like a pretty severe mental health crisis.
[0]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dr.+Gary+Maynard+For+Presi...
> They have names, addresses,
This is a phrase I have seen numerous times before on the internet, always in contexts which make clear this is a call to violence.
This is a phrase I have seen numerous times before on the internet, always in contexts which make clear this is a call to violence.
I don't know who flagged you for saying you've seen that phrase only in worrying contexts before, but your comment seems reasonable enough to me. Maybe they misread what "this" refers to?
...which is not to say that Oblivion Arms of the Vampire Squid do not exist. But arson is no way to stop Them.
Education and voting are all that have been found ever to help much. Public libraries do their share.
Education and voting are all that have been found ever to help much. Public libraries do their share.
Fun fact: the alleged perp a progressive democrat politically. By his own words, he may have lit the fires because he's upset that Trump didn't "mea culpa" being a jerk and evil!
Quoting the alleged arsonist himself:
“Donald Trump’s lack of or unwillingness to self-reflect in order to self-improve, and his lack of empathy while being threatened with his first major, public, political and personal defeat, might activate a sense of the need for the use of violence, violent protests by his supporters or outright sabotage of the nation by locking down the economy or some other major act to damage the nation before he is forced to leave office, if he loses,”
TDS to the max and not remotely rational at all. Free rent in his brain to this day,
Quoting the alleged arsonist himself:
“Donald Trump’s lack of or unwillingness to self-reflect in order to self-improve, and his lack of empathy while being threatened with his first major, public, political and personal defeat, might activate a sense of the need for the use of violence, violent protests by his supporters or outright sabotage of the nation by locking down the economy or some other major act to damage the nation before he is forced to leave office, if he loses,”
TDS to the max and not remotely rational at all. Free rent in his brain to this day,
It seems like this would be the most difficult crime to prove.
Not against throwing the book at him if there is substantial proof.