UINTAH COUNTY, Utah, April 19, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A former Utah Highway Patrol trooper who confessed to deliberately setting a wildlands area off Maeser Highway last summer has been sentenced.
Rex Richard Olsen, who was a trooper when he said he lit the fire on June 9 of last year, was sentenced on Tuesday for second-degree felony arson. Olsen pleaded guilty on Nov. 14.
His sentence was:
- 1-5 years in the Utah State prison — suspended
- Probation to for 36 months
- 180 days in the Uintah County Jail
A restitution hearing for Olsen is set for June 27 in 8th District Court, in Vernal. The state of Utah is requesting $482,392.76 for the damage caused to property and land, including the cost of response to and suppressing the fire.
In addition, Olsen faces a June 7 sentencing in Federal District Court for starting a similar but separate fire in Uintah County on Bureau of Land Management land. Olsen pleaded guilty to a class D felony in that case.
