Glendale man sentenced to state prison for Griffith Park fires

A 44-year-old Glendale man on probation for an arson conviction has been sentenced to 16 years in state prison after pleading no contest to arson stemming from a series of fires in Griffith Park last year, prosecutors said today.

As a result of the plea, prosecutors dropped three felony counts of arson against Gary Allen Lintz, who admitted to the special allegations of great bodily injury to a firefighter and of having a prior arson conviction. He could have faced 20 years if convicted on all the counts.

Lintz was arrested Aug. 23, 2008, after hikers allegedly saw him near Griffith Park Drive shortly after a slow moving brush fire had broken out. His arrest coincided with stepped-up patrols in the park after fire officials said they suspected a single person was responsible for five fires in two hours on Aug. 16, 2008, and that the person may have had a hand in two previous suspicious fires.

Lintz pleaded no contest in connection with the arson count stemming from the Aug. 16, 2008, fire.

He eventually was charged with four arson counts that occurred on July 27, Aug. 4, Aug. 16 and Aug. 23 in the park. He was on probation for a 2007 arson conviction at the time of his arrest.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Gary Allen Lintz, 44, of Glendale has been sentenced to 16 years in state prison after pleading no contest to arson stemming from a series of fires in Griffith Park last year. Credit: Los Angeles Fire Department

Comments

[joseph cecil smith]

wow.. this is a light sentence considering he's going to light fires whenever he can.. 5 fires in one day? many over several years? this is the sad case where we have to lock someone up to protect the public from him. 16 years is a light, ask the injured firefighter!
blessings to all...

[jim jackson]

Give him a little something he can relate to.

Burn him at the stake alive.

Jim Jackson

[Dee]

Sixteen years is not nearly long enough to send this jerk to prison. The sentence should be a minimum of fifty years for every wildfire he started intentionally; or maybe even more.

Lest we forget, even those fires where they claim there were "no deaths" -- that's not true, because that's a living ecosystem, not a dead and empty landscape. The land is filled with vibrant communities of living creatures. Probably hundreds of animals die horrible deaths, for every acre of land that goes up in flames.

Everyone would be rightfully outraged if this creep had poured gasoline on a puppy and set him on fire; but the actual harm he did in setting wildfires was hundreds of times worse than that.

(And don't think he didn't know it, too. It's probably part of the twisted thrill that these sickos get out of setting fires, knowing how many living beings will die hellish deaths in the flames.)

Ideally, we could do to him what he did to all those animals. But if we can't, at least lock him up in a small, dark, bug-infested prison cell and let him rot there until he dies.

[Kent S. Rose]

If he is sentenced to 16 years, how many years will it be until he sets more fires? 8 years with good behavior? While I am againt knee-jerk law-and-order responses to our societies problems, someone causing such serious damage needs to be somewhere that he can no longer harm our world. Ever.

[Ken]

Well since our governor is planning on releasing 38,000 "non-violent" criminals as soon as his tax increases go down in flames next week this creep may not have to spend much time in jail.

[Barb]

He sounds like someone who needs permanent placement in a mental facility for the criminally insane. He's a pyro, and there's no doubt that after he gets out he'll be lighting up more fires. Given time off for good behavior in prison and the prison overcrowding issue, he could be out on the streets in eight years, still plenty young enough to wreak havoc on more parks. Boo on the prosecutors for agreeing to a "no contest" plea given his prior arson conviction.

I hope that nobody dies because this nut starts another fire.

[Dee]

Ken: Setting wildfires that burn animals to death -- including humans sometimes -- is NOT a "non-violent" crime. What should count as non-violent crimes would be things like fraud, tax evasion, gambling, drug use, prostitution, etc. Crimes where you don't actually do anything violent.

[samanthac_11]

So this guy was arrested at Griffith Park for throwing rocks on the playground??? I don't understand!

[dj]

I know this man very well and most of your commits are very valid i have know him for years and he truly needs help, prison yes but wild fires renew life in nature is very common but someone to start it is very wrong.But as i have said he need some serious help

[raylonda jackson]

give the guy a break it could of been you or one of your family members !