Man pleads guilty to intentionally starting 3 fires on federal land in Lake Tahoe area
SACRAMENTO - A man has pleaded guilty to intentionally setting fires on federal land in the Lake Tahoe area.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced Tuesday that Douglas Gregory Edwards, 37, formerly of Berkeley, pleaded guilty to setting the fires.
According to court documents, on July 5, 2020, Edwards set three separate fires in the forest and near hiking trails in a protected area of federal land known as the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. At the time of the fires, campfires were restricted, and smoking was prohibited except inside a vehicle or other designated areas.
Edwards set the first fire, dubbed the Echo Fire, at approximately 3 a.m. on a slope near Echo Lake. Witnesses say they saw Edwards at the site of the Echo Fire watching an eight-foot dead tree burning but he took no steps to put it out. After firefighters, with help from a firefighting helicopter, put out the fire, investigators found a cigarette butt directly above the ignition site.
The second fire started just after 9 a.m., less than a mile downhill from the Echo Fire. Also, in this instance, firefighters battled the fire using water drops from aircraft, and it was contained at approximately 4:30 p.m. Investigators found two cigarette butts near the ignition site of this fire, and DNA analysis of the cigarette butts connected them to Edwards. A single set of shoe impressions from the Upper Fire's origin area led back to a hiking trail that connects to Echo Peak, Talbert says. The tread and size of the shoe prints matched the shoes that Edward was wearing when he was arrested on July 5, 2020.
The third fire started around noon in the same general vicinity, near a hiking path that provides access to the Pacific Crest Trail. It was in a remote location with thick brush and trees that limited access to firefighters. Several hikers in the area say they saw Edwards running and hiking near where this third fire began. The witnesses observed Edwards smoking a cigarette and holding a cigarette lighter. Law enforcement agents subsequently arrested Edwards in the afternoon as he was hiking about a quarter-mile away from where all three fires started.
The U.S. Forest Service, CHP, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, and the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Forensic Science provided all worked on the case.
Edwards is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 24, 2023. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.