A former Rutland resident has been sentenced to nine months of home detention for setting fire to a shelter on Vermont’s Long Trail.
Prosecutors say Justin Caissie, who now lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, started the fire that destroyed the Tucker Johnson Trail Shelter. The shelter was in the Green Mountain National Forest in Mendon.
According to court records, Caissie started a fire on the shelter’s wooden floor last March. To feed the fire he tore boards off of the bunk beds.
He said he was not thinking clearly because he was high on methamphetamine at the time and started the fire to keep warm.
Prosecutors say he called the fire department to report the blaze but said he came upon it while hiking. He later pleaded guilty to damaging government property.
A judge on Wednesday ordered him to pay back more than $6,000 to the U.S. Forest Service.