The former UHP trooper charged with starting the Maeser Highway Fire has pleaded guilty in 8th District Court to a reduced charge of Arson. The Maeser Highway Fire started on June 9th in Uintah County resulting in evacuations and the temporary closure of the highway. On August 8th, the Utah Attorney General’s Office charged 37-year-old Rex Richard Olsen with one count of Second-Degree Felony Arson as well as a second charge for placing a lighted item on a highway/wildland area, a class B misdemeanor. Olsen pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of third-degree felony Arson this month while the second charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal. Olsen was an on-duty trooper at the time of starting the fire and GPS based location data placed Olsen at the time and place of the fire. The damage caused to property, land and the expense of responding to and suppressing the fire is more than $800,000 dollars. Olsen is also facing a federal charge for allegedly setting a second fire in Uintah County about a week and a half before the Maeser Highway Fire. The second fire, known as the Mile Marker 166 Fire, started on May 30th and temporarily closed Highway 40.
