Cathedral City man admits igniting multiple fires, sentenced to prison

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - A 51-year-old man who ignited nearly a dozen small brush fires in rapid succession around Cathedral City was bound for state prison today to serve a sentence of six years, eight months behind bars after pleading guilty to 10 counts of arson.

Jose Hernandez of Cathedral City admitted the felony offenses during a settlement conference at the Larson Justice Center in Indio Wednesday. No charges were dismissed.

The plea was directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Susanne Cho -- over the objections of prosecutors, who opposed the low-term prison sentence that the court deemed justified.

Hernandez set the fires on the morning of July 15, 2022, mostly in the 68-400 block of Dinah Shore Drive, near Shifting Sands Trail, where passing motorists spotted the defendant walking along the roadway, torching brush and debris.

Three blazes were started in the open, then Hernandez went underneath the nearly quarter-mile-long bridge over the wash spanning the area between Shifting Sands and Lawrence Crossley Road, according to the Cathedral City Police Department.

Once beneath the bridge, he ignited another seven fires, police said.   

Patrol officers converged on the location within minutes and found Hernandez at the west end of the span, where he was taken into custody without incident.

The blazes were quickly knocked down by municipal fire crews. There was no damage to surrounding residential properties.   

The defendant was arrested two days after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor vandalism charge that stemmed from a rock-throwing incident at a restaurant on Ramon Road.

He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.