07/19/2025
NEWS RELEASE
RELEASE DATE: Saturday,
July 19, 2025
CAL FIRE Law Enforcement Makes Felony Arrest
Butte County- On June 29, 2025, at approximately 9:45 pm, CAL FIRE/Butte County Fire Department responded to a fire on Sam Lynn Way in Palermo. The fire burned one acre of vegetation and threatened nearby structures. An origin and cause investigation by CAL FIRE Butte
Unit (BTU) officers showed the fire was a malicious act of arson.
Over the next several weeks, BTU officers conducted an extensive investigation, which included witness interviews and surveillance in both Butte and San Joaquin Counties and reviewing multiple forms of surveillance footage. At the conclusion of the investigation, officers determined that 50
year-old Stockton resident Raymond Lee Wilson traveled from Stockton to Butte County with two other subjects on June 28.
On the evening of June 29, after engaging in a heated argument with a Butte County resident, Wilson retaliated by setting the victim's property on fire. He then fled back to Stockton.
On July 16, a Butte County Judge signed a warrant commanding the arrest of Wilson. On July 17, CAL FIRE Officers from BTU, the Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit (NEU), and Sacramento traveled to Stockton and placed Wilson in custody without incident.
Wilson elected to waive his right to booking at the nearest facility and was transported to Butte County. He is being held at the Butte County Jail for Penal Code 451(c), arson to wildland, and Penal Code 451.1, use of an accelerant. Bail is set at $150,000.
CAL FIRE BTU Would like to thank our partners in NEU and Sacramento for their assistance and dedication to this case over the last several weeks.
If you have information about suspected arson activity, contact the Butte Unit Fire Prevention
Bureau at 530-538-7888 or the Statewide Arson Hotline at 1-800-468-4408.
