Two arsonists get probation

The Daily Inter Lake

Two Kalispell-area men convicted of intentionally setting fire to a barn near Somers last year have been given probationary sentences.

Chase Matthew Bartley, 23, was ordered to serve a six-year deferred sentence and Lonnie Christopher Hubbard, 19, was ordered to serve a two-year deferred sentence.

They were sentenced during a hearing Thursday in Flathead County District Court.

Both men had pleaded guilty to arson.

Two other people previously were sentenced in connection with the March 2008 barn fire, which destroyed more than $1,000 worth of alfalfa hay and damaging the building.

Chase Levi Owens, 20, was given a six-year deferred sentence in March and Kelsi Marie Soto, 19, was given a six-month deferred sentence in November 2008. Owens was convicted of arson and Soto was convicted of negligent endangerment, a misdemeanor.

Flathead County sheriff's deputies came across the burning barn, located on Wiley Dike Road, at about 4 a.m. on March 13, 2008. The metal-sided structure was stocked with about 9 tons of alfalfa hay.

Prosecutors believe Bartley, Hubbard and Owens used lighters to set fistfuls of hay on fire while Soto watched, according to court documents.

The Somers Fire Department extinguished the fire in about two hours, but the barn suffered some structural damage.

The barn fire, which was discovered while deputies were looking for suspects in a fire at a construction site near the intersection of Montana 82 and Hard Rock Road, is the second fire the four co-defendants set that night.

Deputies responding to reports of suspicious activity at the construction site found a small fire burning in the partially built structure. Lumber from the site had been piled up against a corner of the building's frame and ignited.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within a few minutes. Investigators found an empty 5-gallon gas can and four used fireworks containers at the scene.

After the second fire, deputies located the Dodge Neon being driven by the co-defendants at the Lower Valley Road river access. Four suspects bolted from the vehicle, but deputies found Soto hiding in some nearby bushes. Owens, Hubbard and Bartley were arrested later that day.