Arsonists
On August 7, 2007, local newspapers reported that 25-year-old Jeremiah D. Hope, of Riverside faced federal charges for starting a blaze that eventually merged with the Old Fire. Authorities said Hope had been evacuated from his Crestline home when he and some friends off-roaded onto dry vegetation in order to get a better view of the Old Fire. The vehicle's catalytic converter reportedly sparked a second fire near Playground Road, which firefighters dubbed the Playground Fire. That fire quickly consumed forest land and later became part of the Old Fire. Hope faced misdemeanor counts of causing the National Forest to burn without a permit and one count of placing a vehicle in a dangerous area.
In 2009, Rickie Lee Fowler was charged with igniting the Old Fire. Authorities believed he was a passenger in a vehicle seen leaving the area where the fire started; the driver of the van, Martin David Valdez, Jr., died of a gunshot wound in 2006. A grand jury indicted Fowler on October 19, 2009, with one count of arson of an inhabited structure, one count of aggravated arson, and five counts of murder. Although six men died of heart attacks after the fire was set, prosecutors were unable to directly link one of those deaths to the stress of the fire. Similarly, although the fire stripped the soil of vegetation and destabilized the slopes, no one was charged in the deaths of fourteen people killed two months later when a mudslide ripped through a camp in Waterman Canyon.
On January 21, 2010, the San Bernardino County prosecutor announced that he would seek the death penalty. Fowler recanted his confession saying that he had admitted to the crime only to appease authorities so that he could be transferred to a prison closer to his mother.
In September 2011, Fowler moved to dismiss the indictment because the prosecutors had failed to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury. The trial is scheduled for July 2012 in San Bernardino, rescheduled from January., and expected to last until November 2012. Prosecutors are charging Special Circumstances which can bring the Death Penalty.
On August 15, 2012, Fowler was convicted of five counts of murder and two counts of arson.
On September 28, 2012, a jury in San Bernardino County recommended a death sentence for Rickie Lee Fowler.
Read more about this topic: Old Fire (2003)