Border Agent Ordered To Pay $8M In Restitution After Starting Wildfire

Published: Friday, September 28, 2018 - 5:18pm
Updated: Monday, October 1, 2018 - 1:21pm

 A U.S. Border Patrol agent pled guilty in federal court Friday to starting a large fire in southern Arizona in 2017.

Dennis Dickey was also ordered to pay $8,188,069 in restitution. As part of the agreement, he agreed to make an initial payment of $100,000 dollars. He was charged with a federal misdemeanor of starting a fire without a permit.

Dickey was off-duty when he started the 47,000-acre fire in southern Arizona in early 2017. He set up a homemade target packed with an explosive then fired at it with a rifle.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated the fire caused more than $8 million in damage before it was extinguished.

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