Feb. 08--A former Boynton volunteer firefighter pleaded guilty Thursday to a third-degree arson charge for setting fires last summer.
For agreeing to the plea deal, Dustin Michael Davis, 25, received a five-year deferred sentence, said Muskogee County Assistant District Attorney Randall Yates. Davis was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, as well as restitution to the Boynton Volunteer Fire Department for costs connected to the fire runs.
The plea deal also stipulated Davis agree to not to seek employment as a firefighter in the future.
Should Davis run afoul of the law during the term of the deferred sentence, he could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison, Yates said.
Davis was arrested as a suspect in a series of fires in the Boynton area after Boynton Volunteer Fire Chief Steve Allen grew suspicious about circumstances surrounding the blazes.
Allen said in August that it appeared the fires had been intentionally set in secluded areas, near sources of water.
The fires were reported to authorities by Davis, who gave the dispatcher a fake name. However, the phone call was made by Davis' personal cell phone. When identified as the person who set the fires, investigators said Davis told them he missed the camaraderie from his days in the military and that setting the fires and bringing the department together renewed some of those feelings.
No structures were damaged in any of the fires authorities believe Davis set.
Reach Dylan Goforth at (918) 684-2903 or [email protected].
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