Warr, of Florence, appeared with his attorney, Kathleen DeSoto, in U.S. District Court in Missoula, where he faces possible penalties of 45 years in a federal penitentiary, a fine of $2.25 million and three years of supervised release.
“I find there exists clear and convincing evidence the defendant presents a serious danger to the community,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch in a brief.
According to charging documents, Warr was spotted in a car along U.S. Highway 12 shortly after an Aug. 31 fire broke out on Mormon Peak Road. A nearby resident reported the license plate of the car, a blue Ford Taurus, to law enforcement officers, who tracked its ownership back to Warr's brother, Waylon.
Investigators then matched the car's tire tread to the impression of tracks cast in mud at the scene of another suspicious blaze, the Lower Larry Creek Fire, earlier in the season.
Due to an extensive criminal history that includes arson - he set fire to a string of cars in Lolo in 2003 - Jonah Warr became the prime suspect for investigators probing the dozens of suspicious wildfires.
Warr has admitted setting at least 19 fires in Missoula and Ravalli counties at the height of last summer's wildfire season. Warr told investigators he used a cigarette lighter to ignite roadside grasses, according to court papers, and even marked the ignition spots on a map he kept.
He's charged with starting fires up and down the Bitterroot Valley, along Lolo Creek and even with two separate fires in the Blue Mountain Recreation Area.
Nine of the fires for which Warr took responsibility occurred on federal land, scorching thousands of acres across the Lolo and Bitterroot national forests. The most serious of those fires was the Gash Creek fire, which burned nearly 8,500 acres and cost $8 million to fight.
But last month, prosecutors at the Missoula County Attorney's Office levied additional state charges against Warr.
Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Clark has charged the man with two felony counts of arson for starting the Mormon Peak fire, part of which burned on private property in Missoula County, and also for burning down several fireworks stands near Lolo.
At the time of his arrest, Warr was already on probation in Ravalli County for a series of other crimes, including felony possession of explosives, criminal mischief and burglary.
Ravalli County Attorney George Corn said he's filed a petition to revoke Warr's suspended sentence on those offenses and has issued a no-bail arrest warrant.
“We rolled as big a rock as we could as quickly as we could,” Corn said.
While Corn said it's still possible his office will file arson charges and seek restitution for the damage Warr caused in Ravalli County, he's not sure another state case will have much impact due to the extensive federal case.
“We're in no particular hurry because the feds have got him with their case,” he said.
Warr was slated to stand trial Monday in federal court, but the trial date was vacated when a plea agreement materialized two weeks ago.
Sentencing is set for 9 a.m. March 22, 2007, in the Russell Smith Courthouse.
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