BOISE, ID – A 24-year-old Priest River man has been sentenced to prison for setting multiple arson fires in Bonner County last summer. Ryan N. Greene pled guilty to six counts of third-degree felony arson on February 16th. He was sentenced to concurrent five years of prison for each charge and five years indeterminate.
Greene was responsible for several fires that occurred in Bonner County in July and August 2022 at the height of wildfire season, according to Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl.
“Thanks to the rapid and effective response by the West Pend Oreille Fire District and others, a major inferno was averted,” Sandahl says.
This is not the first time Greene has been in serious legal trouble. He was a registered sex offender when he was arrested on rape and lewd conduct charges in 2020. He was accused of forcibly raping a pregnant woman in Priest River in 2017; he was also accused of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor who was between the ages of 14-15 in 2015. That same year, Greene was prosecuted as an adult for kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl; he pled guilty to an amended lewd conduct charge in a plea agreement.
As part of the arson plea agreement, the U.S. government agreed not to bring separate federal charges in connection to the summer 2022 fires. Greene was ordered to pay restitution and court costs of $245.50 per case for a total of $1,473.
Investigators from the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office, Bonner County Sheriff, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Idaho Department of Lands collaborated over a two-month period to identify Greene as the perpetrator.
“Investigators quickly identified a pattern with the fires and ascertained that a serial arsonist was responsible. Hundreds of hours of collaborative work were invested by all investigators. The State Fire Marshal’s Office spent approximately 120 hours on the case, collaborating on video surveillance, stakeouts and other investigative techniques,” a press release says.
Vehicles connected to Greene were seen in the area of three of the fires, all determined to have been human-caused. During interviews with investigators, Greene admitted to using gasoline, diesel, and lighter fluid to start the fires.
“Anyone considering arson should know that we will investigate, and we will prosecute,” Sandahl says. “Arson is harmful to our state and affects state resources. We are appreciative of all the other agencies who assisted us in bringing this individual to justice, and protecting Idahoans from devastating fires and those who start them.”
