Corps charges infantryman in wildfire

[unhappycamper]

Corps charges infantryman in wildfire
By Gidget Fuentes - [e-mail]
Posted : Wednesday Feb 25, 2009 19:30:24 EST

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Corps has charged an infantryman for allegedly starting an October fire that merged with another blaze and burned more than 4,000 acres at Camp Pendleton, Calif., threatening hundreds of homes both on and off the installation, officials said Wednesday.

Lance Cpl. Nason G. Lamb, who enlisted in July 2008, is charged with reckless endangerment, setting fire to U.S. property, damage to military property and making a false official statement, base officials said in a statement. Lamb faces up to eight and a half years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted of all charges.

Marine officials accused Lamb, of Palmetto, La., of starting the fire after he allegedly lit grass that caused a larger wildfire on Oct. 13, 2008, while participating in an exercise with his unit in the base’s Juliett Training Area.

Lamb is a rifleman with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Mike Alvarez, a I Marine Expeditionary Force spokesman. He is not being held in pretrial confinement and has been assigned a defense attorney, but no date has been set for an Article 32 preliminary hearing, Alvarez said.

It is unclear whether anyone else will be charged in the incident.


Rest f article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/marine_fire_022509w/%2e