A man pled guilty to one count of reckless burning and was sentenced to six years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Forty-four-year-old Trenton Lee Strain, who lists an address in the Clarkridge area, was initially charged with 14 counts of reckless burning and one count of arson. The state dropped all except one count of reckless burning.
The first report of fires being started came in mid-afternoon on October 13 last year. Those initial blazes were located along State Highway 201 North. As the day progressed, more fires were reported and extinguished. At one point, the Clarkridge Fire Department reported evidence was beginning to point to someone driving around the area and setting the fires.
A witness reported seeing a maroon Toyota pickup truck stopped along County Road 36. The witness said as soon as he past the parked vehicle, he saw a fire in the roadside ditch. Once the fire had spread four-to-five-feet, the truck left the area.
As the day continued, a description began to come together of the man driving the truck and witnesses provided information to the sheriff’s office that the fires were being started by the driver.
The man was said to be lighting wads of paper and throwing them out the window of his vehicle. Conditions were extremely dry in the area at the time, and the fires were reported to be spreading rapidly.
On the second day set fires were reported, a witness followed the truck from which the wads of burning paper were being thrown into Missouri. The witness called the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office about the situation. A license plate check was run on the pickup and it came back as being registered to Strain.
At one point, Strain pulled into a convenience store in Ozark County and was observed buying alcohol and a newspaper.
Law officers were focusing their attention in the state line area. A Baxter County sheriff’s deputy saw the suspect truck heading south near the Pigeon Creek Bridge. Because the vehicle was speeding according to radar, the deputy stopped the vehicle. Strain was arrested for suspected driving while intoxicated and taken to the Baxter County Detention Center.
During a search of the vehicle, lawmen found several firearms, a lighter, package of cigarettes and several pieces of wadded up paper.
The Clarkridge Fire Department estimated there were 6-7 fires set on the first day and 7 fires the next day.
During the two days, only one unoccupied structure, described as a shed, was damaged as a result of the fires.
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