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SAN JOSE — A man from the Kansas City area flew to the Bay Area, drove a rental car toward the Calaveras Reservoir east of Milpitas, and threw flaming pieces of paper along the grassy foothills, igniting more than a dozen fires in a 24-hour span this past weekend, authorities say.

Those allegations fuel the 15 arson-related charges filed against 68-year-old Freddie Owen Graham of Lone Jack, Missouri. Graham was arraigned in a San Jose courtroom Wednesday and sent back to the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas, where he was being held on $500,000 bail.

According to Santa Clara County prosecutors, Graham set four fires Friday and nine more Saturday, and was on the verge of getting out of town when he was arrested by Cal Fire officials Monday while returning his rental car at Mineta San Jose International Airport.

What Graham didn’t know was that a witness spotted his car and gave a license plate number to Cal Fire — the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — whose local units had been fighting, then investigating, what has been dubbed the Reservoir Fire.

“But for that Good Samaritan coming forward with the license plate, this crime probably would never have been solved,” said Supervising Deputy District Attorney Bud Porter.

Porter said evidence shows that Graham flew into San Jose on Thursday, then drove to the foothills along Calaveras Road and began throwing bits of fire into the fields, in a description that resembles a firebug Johnny Appleseed.

“The fires were set with a lighter, setting paper on fire, and throwing it out the window of the car,” Porter said.

The Friday fires “took a few hours” to put out, but the nine set on Saturday took up most of the weekend to extinguish by scores of firefighters backed by air units and bulldozers. The Reservoir Fire ultimately burned 128 acres, but caused no injuries and did not threaten any homes.

Graham was charged with 13 felony counts of arson of brushland, and two additional arson counts alleging an arson committed during a state of emergency. In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom, declared that emergency status for California for the year’s wildfire season.

Through the Public Defender’s Office, which is representing Graham, the defendant declined a jail interview with this news organization and said he had no public comment on his arrest.

Graham faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Porter said Graham had no apparent connections to California, and that why he targeted the reservoir area, or wanted to start the fires in the first place, remains unclear.

But he may have local roots. A Facebook page bearing his name, and claiming his current residence as Blue Springs, Missouri — adjacent to Lone Jack — lists Milpitas as his hometown, and says he attended San Jose State University. A university spokeswoman said Friday that San Jose State has no record of his attendance.

A search of public records showed no documented residential history in California for Graham, though the records only go back to 1989, by which point he was living in Kansas. The records do show that in September 2018, Graham was charged with a criminal infraction in Jackson County for allegedly “knowingly burning or exploding” the property of another.