Firefighter accused of cash-for-arson deal
SALMON, Idaho – A federal firefighter charged with solicitation of arson for financial gain coached a teenager on how to set the blaze and then bullied her when she worried about getting caught, according to a taped telephone conversation used in the court case against him.
Levi Miller, a Salmon resident who has worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for about two years, is accused of convincing a friend to set a brush fire on the outskirts of Salmon on Aug. 13. The fire burned a half-acre of brush before it was extinguished by fire crews.
Police contend Miller may have been trying to create work for federal fire crews.
In a taped telephone conversation with the teen that was entered as part of the court records, a voice that prosecutors claim is Miller’s told the young woman to “take a match or a lighter,” and then ordered her to go “do it.”
The male voice also boasted about starting eight fires in the Salmon area in 2003, saying it was “easy and fun,” the Idaho Falls Post Register reported.
In a second taped call, the same person told the teen how to dispose of evidence and lie to investigators. The teen later told Lemhi County Deputy Terry Stratton that Miller had offered to pay her $100 to set the fire on the western outskirts of Salmon.
If convicted, Miller could be sentenced to up to 12 1/2 years in prison and fined up to $25,000. Miller’s preliminary hearing has been scheduled for this week, and he remains in the Lemhi County Jail on $20,000 bond.
Another firefighter with the Bureau of Land Management has been arrested in connection with the case, but no charges have been filed and his name has not been released. Prosecutors contend that the second firefighter’s voice can also be heard on one of the tapes, telling the teen to leave behind any evidence of the crime and saying the blaze would let the firefighters make some money.
Before Miller worked for the Interior Department agency, he volunteered with the North Fork Fire Department. Lemhi County Sheriff Sam Slavin has said authorities are investigating a series of arson-caused fires that broke out about 20 miles north of Salmon in Salmon-Challis National Forest in 2003 to see if Miller may have been involved.
One of the 2003 fires was within 250 yards of the driveway leading to Miller’s then-residence, according to court records. In that arson investigation, authorities found the device they believed was used to set the fire – a stick of incense stuck in a bundle of wooden matches.