Cass Lake teen ordered to pay for wildfire costs

A Cass Lake teenager will have to pay $160,000 in restitution for a wildfire he started last year.

Anthony James Wittner was in the woods south of Cass Lake on May 28. The mosquitoes were bothering him, so he lit a fire according to a Cass County sheriff's report.

Wittner later pleaded guilty to felony wildfire arson for setting the fire, which burned 76 acres of forest, forcing 10 families to leave their homes and drawing eight fire departments and multiple state and federal agencies to the scene.

A Cass County District Court Judge has ordered Wittner to pay $123,000 to the state Department of Natural Resources for its firefighting effort and $38,000 to the Potlatch Corporation that owned the land he burned.

The judge also ordered Wittner to attend a 28-day rehabilitation program at the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center. He will receive credit for 14 days previously served.

Wittner was 17 at the time of the fire. According to a sheriff's department release, he was spotted by a Cass County deputy heading south and away from the spreading fire. When the deputy identified himself, Wittner ran, but the deputy chased him down.

He was technically charged as an adult, but that adult sentence was suspended. If he violates the terms of his current sentence he will have to return to court.

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