DA says video selfie pointed authorities to man who got 20 years for setting forest fire
A man who pleaded guilty Friday to setting a 2014 forest fire that burned nearly 100,000 acres in California was immediately identified as a suspect thanks to a selfie video and an alert witness, the local district attorney said.
Given a ride by a retired firefighter soon after the so-called King fire began, Wayne Allen Huntsman showed the firefighter the video, said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson on Friday. The unidentified driver then took his own video of Huntsman’s video, and turned it over to authorities, according to KSBW, the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle.
A Sacramento Bee video apparently includes the driver’s footage. It shows cellphone playing a video of Huntsman between two small fires. Then the camera pans to the right of the cellphone to show a smiling Huntsman sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
Huntsman also made a 911 call to report the fire, notes KGO.
The 37-year-old was sentenced Friday to a maximum 20-year prison term and ordered to pay $60 million in restitution, after pleading guilty to three arson counts.
Huntsman apologized in court and public defender Teri Monterosso described him as “probably the most remorseful client I’ve ever represented.”
Although no one was killed in the fire, it injured firefighters and destroyed at least a dozen homes and 68 other structures. It burned for more than a month after it began on Sept. 13, 2014.
Reuters also has a story.