Blackfoot Man Sentenced for Arson

Arson on the Reservation

A 20-year-old Blackfoot man has been sentenced to prison for setting a house on fire on the Fort Hall Shoshone Bannock Indian Reservation.

Trevor James Hurley, 20, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was sentenced to 36 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for arson, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

Hurley appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

According to the plea agreement, witnesses observed Hurley earlier in the night purchasing cotton balls and lighter fluid at a convenience store. He later returned to the convenience store, bragging about how he had set someone’s trailer on fire. In an interview with law enforcement on September 11, 2012, Hurley explained how he poured lighter fluid on the cotton balls, lit them on fire, and pushed them through a hole in the screen to the trailer’s master bedroom window.

Hurley said that the trailer ignited fast, flames shot up, and then he ran back to his friends in a nearby vehicle. Although the trailer was a total loss, and another person was sleeping in a camp trailer located approximately 10 feet away, no one was injured in the fire.

The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department, Idaho State Fire Marshal, and the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office.

Hurley’s actions demonstrate a reckless disregard for human life and property, and his sentence reflects the severity of his crime.

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