Indian, Calif. (Kuna) – A 51 -year -old man who caused almost a dozen small forest fires in rapid succession around Cathedral City was sent today to a state prison to serve a sentence of six years and eight months after declaring himself guilty of 10 fire charges caused.
José Hernández, resident of Cathedral City, admitted serious crimes during a conciliation conference at the Larson Justice Center in Indian on Wednesday. The charges were not dismissed.
The guilt declaration was directed directly to Judge Susanne Cho of the Superior Court of Riverside County, despite the objections of the Prosecutor’s Office, which opposed the prison sentence less than the Court considered justified.
Hernández caused the fires on the morning of July 15, 2022, mainly in the 68-400 block of Dinah Shore Drive, near Shifting Sands Trail, where the drivers who passed saw the defendant walking along the road, burning weeds and debris.
Three outdoor fires began, then Hernández passed under the bridge of almost a quarter mile over the channel that covers the area between Shifting Sands and Lawrence Crossley Road, according to the Cathedral City Police Department.
-Once under the bridge, it caused another seven fires, police reported.
Patrol agents went to the place in minutes and found Hernández at the west end of the bridge, where he was arrested without incident.
The municipal firefighters quickly extinguished the fires. There were no damage to surrounding homes.
The defendant was arrested two days after declaring himself guilty of a minor vandalism crime derived from an incident of launching stones at a restaurant in Ramon Road.
He had no criminal record documented in Riverside County.
