Darrel Rich, Arson, Idaho 2017

BOISE, Idaho - In a shocking act of violence, Darrel Rich, 68, of Emmett, Idaho, set fire to four Emmett Police cars, causing significant damage to the vehicles and putting the lives of the officers in danger.

According to court records, on July 26, 2017, at approximately 12:04 a.m., Rich drove his Chevrolet Impala to the Emmett Police Department and parked it on First Street across from the police station's unsecured back parking lot. Rich exited the car, opened the trunk and retrieved a gasoline canister, walked to the rear of four police cruisers parked in the back parking lot, and poured gasoline from the canister behind each of them.

Rich then lit something on fire, threw it toward the police cruisers, and they ignited. In lighting the police cruisers on fire, Rich acted maliciously and without justification or excuse. The four police cruisers were used in local and interstate police activity, including patrolling interstate streets and transporting out-of-state violators of the law.

The Emmett Police Department received federal financial assistance in the form of subsidies for bulletproof vests from 2014 through 2017.

Rich pleaded guilty to a two-count indictment charging him with damage by fire to vehicles owned by an institution receiving federal funding, and damage by fire to vehicles used in interstate commerce, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.

Sentencing is set for May 7, 2019, before U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Idaho State Police, the Gem County Sheriff's Office, and the Emmett Police Department.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-id/pr/arsonist-who-burned-four-emmett-police-cars-pleads-guilty