Convicted arsonist arrested in connection with four more fires in Modesto this month
A convicted and registered arsonist was arrested Thursday evening on suspicion of starting three fires behind a south Modesto business. It was his fifth arrest in two months.
The Modesto Police Department and the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit responded to the Family Dollar store on Crows Landing Road and Glenn Avenue at about 7 p.m. for a report of a dumpster fire.
A witness reported seeing a man, later identified as 67-year-old Ronald Lue Zaske, start the fire as well as two grass fires behind the store the day before, said FIU Supervisor Dustin Bruley.
Zaske, a transient, was at the scene when investigators arrived and was taken into custody.
“Zaske admitted to igniting three fires, claiming each time he started the fires it was to cook pizza he had found in the dumpster,” Bruley said.
Zaske is on the arson registry following a 2019 conviction for starting a fire at the campground at Woodward Reservoir. Bystanders helped to contain the blaze to a 50-by-50-foot area before firefighters arrived.
According to online court records, Zaske pleaded no contest to arson of forest land and admitted to one prior offense. He was sentenced to a lower term of 32 months in prison.
Bruley did not know when Zaske was released from prison but said it was likely in late 2020 around the time he began getting arrested again.
From Nov. 19 to Dec. 11, Zaske was arrested three times by Modesto police for violating his parole after he allegedly started warming fires in piles of debris and trash, Bruley said.
Then on Jan. 6, he was arrested on suspicion of starting a trash fire that spread to a strip mall in downtown Modesto on H Street, causing damage.
He was charged with arson and four enhancements for having priors, according to online court records that also indicated it was his third strike. But he was released on $0 bail the following day, according to Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Tom Letras.
Zero-dollar bail for most misdemeanor and some felony offenses was first implemented statewide in April by the California Judicial Council in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council ended the emergency rule the following month but most county’s, including Stanislaus, decided to adopt their own Court Emergency Bail Schedules with $0 bail.
Zaske’s bail this time is set at $150,000, according to booking records.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 4:31 PM.
