Man placed on probation after home is burnt to the ground
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SHELLEY — A man will spend time on probation after a mobile home burnt to the ground in 2019.
Stephen Leon McMurtrey, 51, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor malicious injury to property and Magistrate Judge James H. Barrett Jr. placed him on two years of supervised probation. Barrett suspended 90 days in jail when sentencing McMurtery on Oct. 28. Sentencing details were not made publicly available until this week.
McMurtrey avoided a lengthy prison sentence as prosecutors amended the charge from felony second-degree arson as part of a plea agreement. According to an affidavit of probable cause, McMurtrey and another man said they burned the home down on March 27, 2019, to get the woman who lived inside off the property.
Charges against the other man were dismissed.
When firefighters arrived at the property on 1550 North in Bingham County, they determined everything a total loss. Investigators believed McMurtery played a key role in the burning down of the home.
No one was home at the time of the fire and no one was injured.