We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Former tribal firefighter in Brown County pleads guilty in federal probe

A former firefighter with the Kickapoo Volunteer Fire Department pleaded guilty Tuesday to concealing the fact that grass fires on the reservation were deliberately set.

Arlene M. Negonsott, 35, Horton, Kan., pleaded guilty in U.S. Court in Topeka to one count of concealing a felony. In her plea, she admitted that she did not tell investigators what she knew when they interviewed her about a series of fires on the Kickapoo Reservation in Brown County.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said she knew that fire chief and co-defendant Stephen D. Ramirez, Jr., arranged for the fires to be set and billed the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Kickapoo Fire Department’s work putting out the fires.

Sentencing will be set for a later date. She faces up to three years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Co-defendant Ramirez is awaiting trial.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File