<\/p>\n
A man who was initially charged with burning down a Dolores couple\u2019s home in September agreed to a plea bargain and was sentenced in April to six years in a Montrose community corrections facility, according to the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 12, Byren Powell, 28, of Towaoc, was arrested on Road 26 after a five-hour manhunt west of Dolores, and south of McPhee Reservoir. He was later charged with arson of a nearby home, burglary and auto theft.<\/p>\n
According to police reports, Powell broke into the Road 27 home of Thomas and Lorna Gift, set it on fire and stole a .22-caliber rifle and their Chevy pickup truck, which he crashed into an irrigation structure a mile away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis story was that he was on drugs and was hallucinating that someone was trying to kill him,\u201d said sheriff investigator Tyson Cox.<\/p>\n
Powell broke down a door while the owners were away, then lit the carpet in a guest bedroom on fire, according to sheriff reports. The fire quickly spread and destroyed the home.<\/p>\n
Under a plea bargain, Powell pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, Cox said, and was ordered to pay $339,000 in restitution to the insurance company, and $4,357 to the Gifts.<\/p>\n
Community corrections is a type of minimum security halfway house managed in partnership with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Powell will be required to do community service and get a job.<\/p>\n
Part of his paycheck will be withheld for restitution payments and room and board.<\/p>\n
At the sentencing hearing, Cox said the Gifts testified about the devastation Powell caused on their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey lost property, but the most upsetting for them was the loss of family pictures and mementos they were planning to pass on to their relatives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Powell told sheriff investigators he had been using drugs at a nearby residence, then began having paranoid delusions and fled.<\/p>\n
He had no connection to the Gifts, and his attack on their property was completely random.<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s three dogs and a cat escaped the fire through a pet door.<\/p>\n
The crime spree triggered a man-hunt in the Rustic Ridge area that startled residents.<\/p>\n
Sheriff deputies searched by foot and vehicle, and an aircraft was called in from San Juan County, New Mexico.<\/p>\n
A resident reported a suspicious person, and Powell was apprehended without incident a short time later.<\/p>\n