UINTAH COUNTY (News4Utah) A former member of the Utah Highway Patrol was sentenced for arson.
Utah Attorney General’s Office said Rex Richard Olsen committed second degree felony arson when he deliberately started a fire on June 9 in the wildlands area off the shoulder of Maeser Highway.
At the time he set the fire, Olsen was on duty as a UHP Trooper.
The charges came after an investigation by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands.
Olsen pleaded guilty in November 2017.
This week, he was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 1-15 years in the Utah State Prison, Probation to Adult Probation and Parole for 36 months, and to serve 180 days in the Uintah County Jail.
A restitution hearing is currently set for June 27 in the 8th District Court in Vernal. The State is requesting a restitution order in the amount of $482,392.76 for the damage caused to property and land, including the cost of response to and suppressing the fire. More than 100 firefighters responded to the wildfire.
