Arsonist who started Cranston Fire pleads guilty

A Temecula man has pled guilty Thursday to two charges for starting the Cranston Fire.

32-year-old Brandon McGlover entered guilty pleas for two counts of burning of a structure or forest land. Seven additional counts were dismissed as part of a plea deal made between the prosecution and defense, according to a release from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

McGlover was sentenced to 12 years and four months in state prison by Judge Kelly Hansen at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

This sentence was the maximum admissible for the two counts which McGlover pled guilty to.

The Cranston Fire torched over 13,000 acres. McGlover is believed to have started nine arson fires to spark the blaze that laid waste to swaths of land ranging from across Idyllwild, Mountain Center, Anza, and beyond. The fire broke out on July 25 and was 100% contained by August 10.

Initially, MGlover was charged with one count of aggravated arson, five counts of arson of an inhabited structure, and nine counts of arson of forest or wildland. If McGlover was convicted of the initial counts he faced, he could have been sentenced to life in prison.

“After a thorough review of the evidence in the case, including testimony and evidence presented
at McGlover’s preliminary hearing in November, the DA’s Office amended the charges filed
against McGlover to best reflect the crimes he committed and the current status of the case,” read the District Attorney’s Office release. “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.”