And I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't the only one.
A Missouri man flew to California, spent two days setting wildfires, then tried to fly home, officials say. He was arrested Monday.
Freddie Graham, 68, hopped on a flight from Missouri to San Jose last Thursday, KPIX reported. After renting a car, he spent the next two days setting fires.
[...]
Officials say Graham would light pieces of paper on fire and then toss them out of his window as he drove, The East Bay Times reported. He’s believed to have set at least 13 fires — four on Friday and nine on Saturday — which are collectively referred to as the Reservoir Fire, officials say.
It took hours for firefighters to put out Friday’s blazes, officials say, but Saturday’s proved even more tenacious, taking firefighters the rest of the weekend to extinguish them, The East Bay Times reported. The fire burned more than 128 acres, though no injuries or damaged structures were reported.
[...]
Graham was arrested Monday while trying to return his rental car at the San Jose airport, according to NBC Bay Area.
Officials say he was in Milpitas for his 50th high school reunion, which he attended Saturday evening after allegedly setting the fires, Mercury News reported.
After he was arrested, Graham told investigators he and his wife had planned to drive along Calaveras Road near the reservoir together before her death in 2018, according to the news outlet. A report by investigators states: “Because she passed away and could not be with him, it made him emotional, starting the fires.”
Kansas City Star
And yet, probably untrue...
The man accused of setting more than a dozen fires along a California roadside already faces a felony arson charge for igniting a hay truck on fire near his home outside Kansas City.
Freddie Graham, 68, of Lone Jack, was scheduled to appear in Jackson County court on Sept. 25, but instead was being detained in California on the new criminal charges.
Jackson County prosecutors allege that in August 2018, Graham was angry at a company for not hiring him and used a lighter to set its hay truck on fire.
[...]
Graham allegedly said he used a lighter to set the hay on fire. Prosecutors later charged Graham with setting the fire.
When asked to write down what he had done, Graham allegedly wrote, “I guess I done it,” according to court records.
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Earlier this year, Graham entered a diversion program, which provides treatment and other services for lower-level offenders, said Mike Mansur, a spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Because of the new California charges, he will be terminated from the program, Mansur said.
Kansas City Star
Yeah, the program didn't seem to be working.
Graham was in Milpitas, near San Jose, for his 50th high school reunion, which he attended after allegedly setting the [California] fires, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Rich Santoro, a former classmate, said Graham appeared happy at the party on Sept. 21 and didn’t seem troubled.
“He was excited to come. I talked to him five or six times during the night. He was happy he was there. He told me, ‘I didn’t expect to have this much fun,’” Santoro said. “It turns out he (allegedly) had already set the fires.”
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