Defendant Destroyed Home on Fort Hall Indian Reservation

POCATELLO – U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that Michael Pandoah, 25, of Fort Hall, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court to 35 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for arson. The sentence imposed by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill is in addition to the 11 months already served at the Fort Hall Tribal Jail on the same charge. Pandoah pleaded guilty to the charge on September 26, 2012.

According to court documents, on May 16, 2010, police and fire personnel at Fort Hall responded to a house fire near the intersection of Tyhee and Laughren Roads on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Police received information that the person who had started the fire was still in the residence. Pandoah was found in the basement of the burning house and was carried out by police and fire personnel. In a later interview with police, Pandoah admitted that he lived at the house with others and that he intentionally starting the fire after a fight with a girlfriend. No one was injured in the fire. The house was destroyed.

The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department.