Saturday, December 21, 2024

Lake County man committed arson 20 years ago. Cops say he’s back at it

The following is a press release from the CAL FIRE LNU. The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:


[Stock image by Matt LaFever]

Law Enforcement arrested 41-year-old Donald Anderson of Clearlake on four felony charges of arson in relation to two recent fires in Lake County.

Anderson was arrested at noon on Friday, Oct. 4 and booked into the Lake County Jail in Lakeport. He has been charged with two felony counts of Penal Code § 451 (c) for arson of a structure or forest land and two counts of Penal Code § 454 for arson during a state of emergency.

The charges are in relation to fires set on Sept. 22 off Seigler Canyon Road west of Lower Lake, and on Oct. 2 off New Long Valley Road in Clearlake Oaks.

The fire in Seigler Canyon burned 0.98 acres and the one off New Long Valley Road burned 0.01 acres.

Anderson has been previously arrested on arson charges by CAL FIRE. In January 2004, he received a 212-month sentence after being convicted of arson charges.

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To report emergencies like fires or suspicious activity, call our secure arson hotline at 1-800-468-4408. Stay alert and report suspicious behavior to help keep your community safe.

To learn more about preparing for the threat of wildfire, visit ReadyForWildfire.org.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. We need to change to punishment for arson to the death by being burned alive. These people are playing with every one else’s lives and livelihoods.

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  2. Wowwww! One would think after such a lengthy sentence this person would have learned his lesson. Obviously not! Let’s hope this time he’s in for life. Some people just can’t learn or be fixed. Sad but true.

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  3. Do crimes of arson fall under the “three strike” rule? Or is that another jurisdiction? I was also interested to read that CALFire has the authority to arrest people (which they surely should). Here’s another question: if the three strike rule applies, and he has received at least one, plus now two more, “presumable” felony convictions (he has not, and is therefore innocent at this point), would his total felonies, were he convicted, add up to three strikes, or not? I should research all of this, but I’m 64 and my time groweth short.

  4. Make him work on the front line of the next fire. Maybe getting in there and being right up close in the action will help him to see the chaos he causes and also curb any fetish or thrill he gets out of the idea of fire and/or things burning? Maybe he always wanted to be a fireman and just his approach towards things has been learned incorrectly.

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MendoFever Staff
MendoFever Staff
Editor's Note: Whenever an article's byline reads "MendoFever Staff", the contents of that article were not composed by any of our reporters. Types of writing that will be attributed to "MendoFever Staff" include press releases, letters to the editor, op-eds, obituaries— essentially writing that is not produced by a reporter.

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