14 ms·

Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

77 points by spfzero 5y ago

donthurtme 5y ago
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.
- thghtihadanacct 5y ago
  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.
  - nomoreplease 5y ago
    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
    - jandrese 5y ago
      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.
- alksjdalkj 5y ago
  There's a whole list of LEAs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States 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?
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    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.
- 46756e 5y ago
  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.
  - salawat 5y ago
    >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.
- rossdavidh 5y ago
  The traditional name for this is "research is me-search".
- slapfrog 5y ago
  > 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.
- throwaway81523 5y ago
  > 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_Aviation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Avi... .
  - slapfrog 5y ago
    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.
- jbgreer 5y ago
  "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
anm89 5y ago
Curious how and why they were tracking this guy initially. It seems like this would be the most difficult crime to prove. Not against throwing the book at him if there is substantial proof.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  > Maynard was identified after his car got stuck near a fire, court records say It's in the article.
- hindsightbias 5y ago
  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.
  - csomar 5y ago
    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?
    - trynumber9 5y ago
      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.
    - cyral 5y ago
      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.
    - 5y ago
ZanyProgrammer 5y ago
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.
- TrainedMonkey 5y ago
  Do you also support draconian punishments for people and organizations who blocked controlled burns and other wildfire control measures?
  - thghtihadanacct 5y ago
    You trolling? You know that wasnt their intention and was disingenuous of you to play it that way.
    - throwaway_dcnt 5y ago
      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.
      - s1artibartfast 5y ago
        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.
        bishoprook2 5y ago
        I'd add.. 3) The urban public likes purty forests to go vacation in.
        5y ago
boomboomsubban 5y ago
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.
- trynumber9 5y ago
  Difficult to hold a job with what is apparently untreated mental illness.
  - R0b0t1 5y ago
    That he completed the programs beforehand is what makes it surprising.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    I missed the "former" part, I focused too much on the fall 2020 hiring.
  - giardini 5y ago
    Even harder to get a job with a theatre arts degree!8-)) But seriously, where does it say he has a theatre arts degree?
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      In the link to his hiring by Sonoma State University.
- sb057 5y ago
  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/california-unemployment-fraud-11-billion-investigations https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...
tevonsb96 5y ago
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
- jl2718 5y ago
  Bolshevism. This dossier points to a person that believes they are saving the world.
  - nnvvhh 5y ago
    What in the world does this have to do with Bolshevism?
    - jl2718 5y ago
      Bolshevism is the belief that the system must be destroyed by an onslaught of random chaos before the glorious revolution will be possible.
      - GeorgeRichard 5y ago
        Bolshevism has nothing to do with "an onslaught of random chaos". Maybe you have it confused with a crude understanding of Nihilism.
      - pizza 5y ago
        No, it's not. You've conflated a rigid hierarchical party system with discordianism or accelerationism.
- chaircher 5y ago
  well it looks like the perp's accademic area was criminology so maybe we could ask him
- nickhalfasleep 5y ago
  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.
rossdavidh 5y ago
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.
chmod775 5y ago
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.
e40 5y ago
Reminds me of this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr
reducesuffering 5y ago
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+President+2020+Exectutive+Committee+and+PAC./@0,0,3z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fcb489caf7123:0xa9784d68510ec85a!8m2!3d45.5980213!4d-127.2696389?hl=en https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dr.+Gary+Maynard+For+Presi...
- slapfrog 5y ago
  > 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.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    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?
    - slapfrog 5y ago
      I also got downvoted several times (after being upvoted a few times) for a comment pointing out that the USPIS was the first federal law enforcement agency. Brief, factual, relevant, uncontroversial, and downvoted. How strange. Step on toes by making a provocative comment in one thread, and people on this site will follow you into other threads to downvote completely innocuous comments. This site is a joke, as bad as reddit; don't take it too seriously. Edit: This comment, six minutes old, on a thread that hasn't been on the front page for a day, has already been downvoted. Do you think it was found and downvoted organically by coincidence, or do you think it has something to do with me making a provocative comment in another thread a few minutes ago at about the same time? I think it's the later. Hello, friend from the covid thread, having fun seething at me?
pengaru 5y ago
PG&E will still take all the flack, not much to be gained in suing a nutty professor surviving on EBT.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  PG&E will get the flack because they started the fire. Fire had been going for almost a month before Prof. Quackers showed up.
xyzzy21 5y ago
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,

77 points by spfzero 5y ago

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.

thghtihadanacct 5y ago
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.
- nomoreplease 5y ago
  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
  - jandrese 5y ago
    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.
alksjdalkj 5y ago
There's a whole list of LEAs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States 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?
- ncmncm 5y ago
  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.
46756e 5y ago
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.
- salawat 5y ago
  >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.
rossdavidh 5y ago
The traditional name for this is "research is me-search".
slapfrog 5y ago
> 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.
throwaway81523 5y ago
> 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_Aviation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Avi... .
- slapfrog 5y ago
  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.
jbgreer 5y ago
"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

anm89 5y ago

Curious how and why they were tracking this guy initially. It seems like this would be the most difficult crime to prove. Not against throwing the book at him if there is substantial proof.

bpodgursky 5y ago
> Maynard was identified after his car got stuck near a fire, court records say It's in the article.
hindsightbias 5y ago
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.
- csomar 5y ago
  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?
  - trynumber9 5y ago
    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.
  - cyral 5y ago
    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.
  - 5y ago

ZanyProgrammer 5y ago

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.

TrainedMonkey 5y ago
Do you also support draconian punishments for people and organizations who blocked controlled burns and other wildfire control measures?
- thghtihadanacct 5y ago
  You trolling? You know that wasnt their intention and was disingenuous of you to play it that way.
  - throwaway_dcnt 5y ago
    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.
    - s1artibartfast 5y ago
      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.
      - bishoprook2 5y ago
        I'd add.. 3) The urban public likes purty forests to go vacation in.
      - 5y ago

boomboomsubban 5y ago

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.

trynumber9 5y ago
Difficult to hold a job with what is apparently untreated mental illness.
- R0b0t1 5y ago
  That he completed the programs beforehand is what makes it surprising.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  I missed the "former" part, I focused too much on the fall 2020 hiring.
- giardini 5y ago
  Even harder to get a job with a theatre arts degree!8-)) But seriously, where does it say he has a theatre arts degree?
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    In the link to his hiring by Sonoma State University.
sb057 5y ago
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/california-unemployment-fraud-11-billion-investigations https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-25/californ...

tevonsb96 5y ago

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

jl2718 5y ago
Bolshevism. This dossier points to a person that believes they are saving the world.
- nnvvhh 5y ago
  What in the world does this have to do with Bolshevism?
  - jl2718 5y ago
    Bolshevism is the belief that the system must be destroyed by an onslaught of random chaos before the glorious revolution will be possible.
    - GeorgeRichard 5y ago
      Bolshevism has nothing to do with "an onslaught of random chaos". Maybe you have it confused with a crude understanding of Nihilism.
    - pizza 5y ago
      No, it's not. You've conflated a rigid hierarchical party system with discordianism or accelerationism.
chaircher 5y ago
well it looks like the perp's accademic area was criminology so maybe we could ask him
nickhalfasleep 5y ago
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.

rossdavidh 5y ago

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.

chmod775 5y ago

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.

e40 5y ago

Reminds me of this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr

reducesuffering 5y ago

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+President+2020+Exectutive+Committee+and+PAC./@0,0,3z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fcb489caf7123:0xa9784d68510ec85a!8m2!3d45.5980213!4d-127.2696389?hl=en https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dr.+Gary+Maynard+For+Presi...

slapfrog 5y ago
> 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.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  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?
  - slapfrog 5y ago
    I also got downvoted several times (after being upvoted a few times) for a comment pointing out that the USPIS was the first federal law enforcement agency. Brief, factual, relevant, uncontroversial, and downvoted. How strange. Step on toes by making a provocative comment in one thread, and people on this site will follow you into other threads to downvote completely innocuous comments. This site is a joke, as bad as reddit; don't take it too seriously. Edit: This comment, six minutes old, on a thread that hasn't been on the front page for a day, has already been downvoted. Do you think it was found and downvoted organically by coincidence, or do you think it has something to do with me making a provocative comment in another thread a few minutes ago at about the same time? I think it's the later. Hello, friend from the covid thread, having fun seething at me?

pengaru 5y ago

PG&E will still take all the flack, not much to be gained in suing a nutty professor surviving on EBT.

jeffbee 5y ago
PG&E will get the flack because they started the fire. Fire had been going for almost a month before Prof. Quackers showed up.

xyzzy21 5y ago

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,