An Arizona man who set fire to a cabin in the Grand Canyon National Park where his ex-girlfriend was staying was sentenced last week to nearly two years in prison.
Dahntay Dunbar, 21, a Flagstaff resident, was arrested in May after he broke into her locked cabin and set a fire inside, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said that Dunbar had found a bottle of clear liquor and dumped it on a bed before igniting a shirt belonging to his former girlfriend. She was not in the cabin at the time.
“The bed started to burn, and Dunbar left the cabin,” a DOJ statement said. “The fire caused scorching, burn damage, and smoke damage to the walls, ceiling, and other parts of the cabin.”
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A bystander saw the blaze and extinguished most of the flames before firefighters arrived on the scene, according to court documents.
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The cabin was owned by the resort company Xanterra. The blaze caused more than $40,000 in damage, authorities said.
Dunbar was arrested by park rangers a short time later. On July 8, he pleaded guilty to arson of a dwelling.
Days before the fire, Dunbar got into a dispute with the unnamed woman and punched through one of the windows, court documents state.
In addition to a prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $20,146.13 in restitution and is subject to five years of supervised release after he serves his time.
