Former UHP trooper Rex Olsen was sentenced on Wednesday to three years of probation for starting the Mile Marker 166 Fire on BLM land in Uintah County on May 30th of 2017. Judge Dale A. Kimball ordered Olsen to pay $102,958.96 in restitution. While Olsen did not receive jail time, he is serving time in the Uintah County Jail as part of his sentence for starting the Maeser Highway Fire in June of 2017. The Office of the Utah Attorney General announced in April that the state was seeking a restitution order for the Maeser Highway Fire in the amount of $482,392.76. The Attorney General emphasized that Olsen deliberately started the fire on June 9th and that at the time he set the fire, he was on duty as a UHP Trooper. Olsen entered a guilty plea to Arson in that case
on November 14th
and was sentenced
on April 17th.
His sentence of 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison was suspended. Instead he is serving 180 days in the Uintah County Jail followed by 36 months of Probation and Parole. He has also been ordered to pay the restitution of $482,392.76 for starting the Maeser Highway Fire.
