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BRIGHAM CITY — "I know what I did was terribly wrong," Chance Jon Cutler wrote in a letter to the court, "and being in this cell, day after day, has cemented that in my mind and on my conscience."
Cutler, 21, was sentenced to prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to setting fire to various structures in Box Elder County in July 2023.
Investigators had been looking into a few different cases of arson when Cutler called into the station, according to a police affidavit, upset that two dogs were left at a remote camp trailer. Deputies responded to the complaint and hours later, police report the same camp trailer had burned down.
When a detective went to interview Culter, the man admitted to using "a lighter to set a semitrailer on fire," burning down a house at 2900 North and 2800 West in the Corinne area, and lighting a field and hay barn on fire on separate occasions with fireworks, according to the arrest report.
The police say these admissions were corroborated by witnesses who were able to describe Cutler's "maroon Chevy pickup (truck) with a white decal in the rear right window that states 'locally hated.'"
"I was so caught up in my head with anger and a multitude of other emotions," Culter wrote in his letter, "that I felt my crime was my only outlet, my only release."
Asking for leniency, his letter to 1st District Judge Spencer Walsh said, "Since my incarceration, I've had multiple eye-opening conversations with my family. I've come to realize that not only did I foolishly take them for granted, but also the amount of faith they put in me for my support in their times of need."
Cutler pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated arson, a second-degree felony; one arson charge, a third-degree felony; and three misdemeanor counts of arson. Walsh sentenced the man to 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison for each charge of aggravated arson, no more than 5 years in prison for the third-degree arson, and more jail time for the misdemeanors.
Walsh ordered all six sentences to run concurrently, meaning Cutler will serve no less than one and no more than 15 years total. He was also given credit for the 165 days he's already served and a recommendation to obtain mental health treatment. He is ordered to pay $19,661 for the damages.
