Fort Hall man pleads guilty to arson

A Fort Hall man pleaded guilty to arson Wednesday.

Michael Pandoah, 25, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in connection with a May 2010 incident.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho, police and fire personnel at Fort Hall responded to a house fire near the intersection of Tyhee and Laughren Roads on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Police received information that the person who had started the fire was still in the residence. Pandoah was found in the basement of the burning house and was carried out by police and fire personnel. In a later interview with police, Pandoah admitted that he lived at the house with others and that he intentionally starting the fire after a fight with a girlfriend. No one was hurt in the fire. The house was destroyed.

The charge is punishable by up to life in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for December 11, 2012, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department.