Blackfoot man lit apartment on fire during domestic disturbance, police say

BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot man who allegedly lit his apartment on fire during a domestic disturbance pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement Monday.

KC Michael Mathis, 27, pleaded guilty to felony malicious injury to property and misdemeanor domestic battery and misdemeanor battery. As part of the agreement the first-degree arson charge, which Mathis was arrested for, was amended to malicious injury to property.

Blackfoot Police Department reports show officers responded to an apartment on Carol Drive during the afternoon on April 23. When detectives arrived firefighters were tending to a fire inside the apartment. When investigators talked with the female resident who called 911, she told detectives she believed Mathis started the fire after the two were involved in a domestic dispute. Mathis had already left the scene, according to court documents.

After firefighters extinguished the fire, detectives obtained a search warrant to enter the apartment. After investigating detectives determined the fire started on the living room floor. Investigators took some clothing, a towel and part of a rug from the apartment to be sent to the Idaho State Labs for testing, according to court documents.

The woman told investigators KC had been throwing lit matches on the floor in the living room and she began picking them up before going outside to call 911.

During their investigation detectives also learned Mathis had attacked the female resident and a second woman outside of the apartment, according to court documents.

When police detained Mathis he offered no information and he was transported to the Bingham County Jail. Bond was set at $15,000.

Mathis will be required to undergo a domestic violence evaluation before he is sentenced. That hearing has not yet been scheduled, but Mathis could receive between one to five years in prison for the felony malicious injury to property charge and up to a year of incarceration for the misdemeanors.