A firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service on Monday accepted a plea deal to serve two years in prison for starting a wildfire while he was on duty July 25, 2010 in southern California near Rancho Cucamonga (map). A trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but Daniel Mariano Madrigal, 26, and his attorney surprised San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim with an offer to plead no contest and to serve two years. After some negotiation, the two sides agreed on the deal, which will probably result in Madrigal actually serving about 9 months, according to Christopher Lee, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office.

Prosecutors had alleged Madrigal “willfully, unlawfully and maliciously” set fire to forest land or caused it to burn.

Before the trial, Madrigal’s attorney, Salvador Silva, contended that the fire was an accident, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times:

The defendant was working that day and had driven his truck to an area east of the dam near a water tower to make a cell phone call. A cigarette he was smoking burned him, and he tossed it, according to the defense.

Madrigal looked for the cigarette in his truck, but he couldn’t find it. When he saw that a fire had started, the defense says Madrigal went back to the station. He and a captain drove a fire engine back to the fire and put it out.

Prosecutors say the fire burned about one-tenth of an acre, but Silva said the fire was much smaller.

Two men have been arrested and arraigned for starting the Eagle fire that burned 14,100 acres in northeastern San Diego County in southern California. Here is an excerpt from an article in the North County Times:

Less than an hour after finding a guard shack burned to the ground in the middle of a wildfire that would soon grow to 22 square miles, firefighters found a sport utility vehicle stuck in the road. Inside the truck, they found Keystone beer cans, a gas can and a lighter, according to court documents.

The truck was registered to the father of Jeremy Ortiz, one of two men who on Friday pleaded not guilty to aggravated arson, court documents state. Jeremy Ortiz and friend Jesse Durbin are accused of starting the Eagle fire on July 21.

Ortiz, 23, a member of the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla Indians, was arrested Thursday in a joint law enforcement operation on charges of aggravated arson and forest land arson, authorities said.

Durbin, 23 and also a tribal member, was already in the Vista jail on a vehicle theft charge when he was arrested in connection with setting the large fire. No one was injured in the blaze.

The two men were in a Vista courtroom Friday, where they pleaded not guilty to charges related to the blaze. They are each being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

If convicted of aggravated arson, each faces 10 years to life in prison, Deputy District Attorney Terri Perez said.

When the fire grew out of control and homes were threatened, Ortiz’s family home was among the first to be evacuated, according to court documents.

 

Thanks go out to Eric

Mike Malenski

From the Muskogee Phoenix:

An Oklahoma Forestry Service firefighter was arrested Monday in connection with a series of wildfires intentionally set in Cherokee County.

Mike Malenski, 38, was placed on administrative leave pending termination following the arrest. Malenski served seven years as a forest ranger based in Tahlequah.

Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, & Forestry law enforcement officers investigated the fires after receiving calls regarding the possibility of arson. Officials said they will be presenting the case to the Cherokee County District Attorney for prosecution.

“We investigate arson and we bring those we catch to justice. It was regrettable that it was one of our own employees,” said Mark Goeller, assistant director in charge of fire operations with Oklahoma Forestry Services.

Arson is a felony punishable by up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000.

 
Thanks Dick

A volunteer firefighter pleaded guilty on Tuesday to starting a fire in 2009 that burned 1,500 acres in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area north of the twin cities in Minnesota. The plea agreement stipulates that he will be sentenced to serve up to 120 days in jail, will be on probation for up to three years, and will have to pay restitution in the amount of $50,000 to $70,000.

From KARE11.com in 2009:

KARE spoke with two witnesses — a father and daughter — who helped lead authorities to Berken. They asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety.

They say they were driving to Forest Lake for groceries around 1 p.m. Monday when the father looked in his rearview mirror and saw something shoot out of the car behind him.

“I saw this stream of grey smoke, an explosion of fireworks,” he says. “I mean, red, white, blue, green. They just shot all over the place and it was instant flames.”

The daughter immediately called 911. They got behind the suspect’s car to get a look at his license plate, which had a red “Firefighter” emblem.

“I was really stunned,” the daughter says. “I’m like, I think this guy’s a firefighter.”

They followed the speeding suspect for about three miles but eventually lost him. Still, their description helped investigators identify Berken. He was arrested at the scene a few hours later while fighting the fire.

“I’m told he was taken into custody at one of the homes that had been evacuated,” says Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff found Berken’s car parked at the fire department and later arrested him at the fire scene while he was fighting the fire.

Berken has a checkered past. In 1991 he was convicted of calling an airport and in a fake middle eastern accent threatening to blow it up. In another incident he called an airport control tower and said the pilot of his aircraft had a heart attack and he needed help landing the plane. He was sentenced to a year in federal prison for making false radio transmissions.

Berken also served 20 months in prison for several check-forgery and theft convictions.

When he first applied to be a volunteer with the Forest Lake Fire Department in 2005 he was rejected after a background check revealed his criminal history. He appealed to the Mayor at the time, Terry Smith, who reversed the decision but required that Berken serve an extended probationary period which ended in 2008. At about that same time that he was allowed onto the department, Berken, who owned a Ford dealership, donated a Ford F-350 equipped to fight fires to the fire department.

When Berken’s Ford dealership filed for bankruptcy in 2008, American Express alleged that the company used a charge card in 2007 to obtain just over $4 million in cash and had failed to repay more than $3.8 million.

From KBZK:

A Forest Service employee and a 23-year-old man, both from Dillon, Montana have admitted to charges of lighting trees on fire in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Kyle Lee Zimmerman, 23, and Christopher Erwin Clark, 26, pleaded guilty to the charge of damaging government property during a federal court session in Missoula on Tuesday.

According to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice, on Oct. 17, 2009, Zimmerman, Clark and “S.K.” lit and attempted to light trees on fire in the Black Mountain area of the Dillon Ranger District in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The trees were dead or dying due to pine beetle infestation.

Zimmerman and Clark are also accused of lighting trees on fire in the Birch Creek area on Oct.18, 2009.

Clark, who is currently employed with the Forest Service as a fire fighter, was a temporary employee in October 2009 and was involved in the suppression effort for the Birch Creek fires.

They each face possible penalties of one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year supervised release.

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 5, 2011. They are currently released on special conditions.

Mark Wurdeman, an investigator for the Minn. DNR, looks for the cause, origin, and evidence at a fire along Brevator Road this week. Photo: Bob King, Duluth News

Two or three nights each week arson fires are being set along roadways on and near the Fond duLac Reservation in Minnesota. About 36 fires have been set, according to Mark Wurdeman, wildfire investigator for the Depoartment of Natural Resources. The BIA is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. The fires so far have been suppressed by firefighters before they have become large or burned any structures.