Man admits setting Cranston fire near Idyllwild, sentenced to 12 years
Brandon N. McGlover, the Temecula resident charged with setting the
Cranston fire and other blazes near Idyllwild in July, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of arson of a structure or forest land and was sentenced to 12 years, four months in prison.
In addition to admitting he set the Cranston and Sage Road fires, McGlover, 33, also admitted an allegation that he set multiple structures ablaze. At least
five homes and 13,000 acres burned in the Cranston fire.
McGlover faced seven felony charges, a reduction from 15.
The charges were reduced during a preliminary hearing. If convicted on the original 15 charges, he could have faced life in prison.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the charges to which McGlover pleaded better reflected the crimes he committed.
“The original charges filed against McGlover required proving to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he had a specific intent to burn structures, which the evidence in the case does not support,” the statement said.
In sentencing McGlover, Superior Court Judge Kelly L. Hansen noted that many residents of the San Jacinto Mountains affected by the fires had hoped to attend the hearing at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. But they remained home because of the
threat of mudslides — a threat created in part when the fires McGlover set killed the vegetation that holds the mountainsides together.
McGlover’s motive remains a mystery, to the frustration of those victims.
“They’re still very angry; they all want to know why. We’ve not been able to answer that question in any way, shape or form,” Deputy District Attorney Dan Fox told Hansen.
“Frankly,” Hansen said, “the court has the same question the victims have. The defendant has elected not to share with the court what his motives were. But the fact is, because of his plea, the crimes he pled guilty to, he has acknowledged his malicious intent. … For whatever reason, he received some type of adrenaline rush from watching the fires burn, from watching people flee their homes in terror.”
Hansen also ordered McGlover to pay restitution, an amount that could be “hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars,” the judge said.
Fox related statements from three victims, who talked about building custom homes from the ground up, only to see them burn to the ground. They said that in addition to losing property, they lost something no amount of money can replace: peace of mind. The victims said they suffered depression, anxiety, shock, numbness and grief — and the loss of a husband.
Janine Munson could not even write out her statement, Fox said, because of her grief. She told Fox that her husband, Tim Hammons, suffered a heart attack as they drove down the mountain to Hemet. Hammons had previously had a quadruple bypass, but doctors told him that they could not repair the latest damage. He died Aug. 8.
“Ms. Munson wanted the court to know that the doctors and her hold Mr. McGlover liable for the death of her husband,” Fox said.
Andrea Bond, in her statement, said to McGlover, “You singlehandedly have affected my life in a devastating way.”
She said the forest, once beautiful, was turned into something similar to “a lunar landscape. All life, gone.”
Alta Kavanaugh’s statement said in part, “My home burned to the ground, and my life was forever altered.”
Police arrested McGlover about 12:30 p.m. on July 25, 2018, at Newport Road and State Street, south of Hemet. Witnesses told authorities that they saw him starting multiple fires, with one person following McGlover and providing police with a description of his car, a white Honda.
McGlover had no previous documented criminal record in Riverside County.
His attorney, Temecula-based Joseph Camarata, told the court, “He would like to offer his deepest sympathies to everyone who has been affected by these fires.”
McGlover declined an offer to speak on his own behalf.
Hansen noted that among those affected were McGlover’s parents, who sat in the courtroom behind their son.
“I want Mr. McGlover to know that I consider his parents victims as well,” Hansen said. “I hope he reflects on the pain he has inflicted on his parents.”
McGlover’s parents declined to immediately provide a statement.
Camarata had one last request of Hansen before his client was led away in chains: for McGlover to be allowed to hug his parents.
Hansen denied the request, citing security concerns.