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Beaumont Man Pleads Not Guilty To Setting Esperanza Fire

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Riverside County, CA — A Beaumont man charged with arson and murder in the deadly Esperanza wildfire says he had nothing to do with the blaze and has no idea why authorities have focused on him.

36 year old Raymond Lee Oyler told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside he was home with his baby girl when the fire broke out. Oyler pleaded not guilty Thursday to arson, murder and other charges in the potential death-penalty case regarding the Esperanza fire which took the lives of five firefighters and burned over 63 square miles of Riverside County.

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