POCATELLO – Michael Pandoah, 25, of Fort Hall, Idaho, pled guilty today in United States District Court to arson, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

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 charge is punishable by up to life in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for December 11, 2012, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department.