Firefighter who set fires gets one year delay of sentence
Circuit Judge Joseph Swallow adopted a one year delay of sentence for an Onaway woman who, while working as a volunteer fire fighter, set numerous forest fires. Dana Marie Lyon, 27, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of willfully setting fires, even though she was identified as the person involved in 35 ?suspicious? fires. ?It would be my intent to adopt the delay of sentence as recommended,? Swallow told Lyon?s attorney Mike Vogler and prosecutor Don McLennan at Monday?s hearing.
THE DELAY of sentence, or delayed sentence probation (DSP), comes with special conditions that Lyon will have to fulfill or face possible jail time. One of the conditions is that she must pay restitution of $5,900 for the 35 fires she set at payments of $500 a month.
The charges are felonies, but if she complies with all the terms of the sentence probation, including the payment of restitution, the charges would be reduced to a misdemeanor. ?That is the agreement which we made at the request of the DNR (the listed victims),? said McLennan. ?They thought…if she was thinking better, she would not have engaged in this conduct.? PART OF the conditions of Lyon?s DSP is she must complete a Mental Health Treatment Program and an Outpatient Substance Abuse Program. According to the court order, Lyon can?t prevent acceptance to a program or give cause for discharge, and must actively participate in both programs.
Lyon must pay $60 to the Crime Victim?s Assessment and $480 in court costs, which she?ll be allowed to pay at $40 a month. The fires occurred between April 1997 and July of last year. Lyon pled guilty as charged January 13.
The DNR investigated the fires but could find no natural causes. Lyon, while working for the Ocqueoc/Bearinger Fire Department, was oftentimes found in the proximity of the fires. This prompted officials to ask Lyon if she was involved, which she first denied, but later admitted to setting between 15 and 20 fires.
Part of the plea agreement was that Lyon would plead guilty to the three counts against her and pay the restitution for the 35 fires.
