Cal Fire law enforcement arson investigation leads to arrest

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Jack Stanley Seprish, 43, was arrested for arson following a fire in Monte Rio, California, on Thursday, May 26, 2022. Photo courtesy of Cal Fire.

NORTH COAST, Calif. — Cal Fire said its law enforcement officers have arrested a man on suspicion of setting a fire in Monte Rio in Sonoma County last week.

Jack Stanley Seprish, a 43-year-old transient, was arrested in the case, officials said.

At 6:12 p.m. Thursday, May 26, firefighting resources from Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit along with Monte Rio Fire Protection District and Sonoma County Fire District responded to a vegetation fire in Monte Rio located in the 9500 block of Bohemian Highway.

While firefighters were at the scene a second fire was reported nearby, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said residents reported seeing a white male adult later identified as Seprish in the area of the fires.

After a search of the area by law enforcement officers from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol and Cal Fire, Seprish was located by sheriff’s deputies, who arrested him, transporting him to the Sonoma County Jail on a charge of burglary to a house in the area of the fires.

As the result of an ongoing Cal Fire law enforcement investigation, Seprish has since been charged with 10 counts of arson to forest land for 10 separate fires to which he has been linked.

Seprish was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon, and bail has been set at $920,000.

If you suspect an arson-caused fire, call Cal Fire’s anonymous hotline at 1-800-468-4408.