BONNER COUNTY, Idaho — A Priest Lake man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he admitted setting fire to a half-dozen wildfires in western Bonner County in the summer of 2022.
Ryan Nathanial Greene, 23, entered Alford pleas for six counts of third-degree arson for burning forestland on both state and federal lands. Firefighters extinguished the fires before they extended.
Last month, Nathanial entered Alford's pleas for the charges. In exchange, the state agreed to dismiss a persistence violator enhancement connected to each of the charges.
Under an Alford plea, a defendant admits no wrongdoing but concedes a guilty verdict could result following a trial. The plea is treated no differently than a standard plea of guilt at sentencing.
In a statement written by Greene, and included in court records, he admitted to setting "five or six fires" in the Priest River area in the summer of 2022 as well as three fires in 2021 in the same area, as reported last month by the Coeur d'Alene Press.
"Anyone considering arson should know that we will investigate, and we will prosecute," State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl said in a statement. "We are appreciative of all of the other agencies who assisted us in bringing this individual to justice, and protecting Idahoans from devastating fires and those who start them."
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