Man bound over for trial on allegations he started Alexander Mountain Fire west of Loveland

After a judge decided there was enough evidence for Jason Hobby to face a first-degree arson charge in connection with the Alexander Mountain Fire his lawyers declared they planned to appeal the ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court The decision was declared during a hearing Wednesday in th Judicial District Court in Fort Collins Hobby was arrested Sept in connection to the Alexander Mountain Fire which was first published July and burned acres west of Loveland He is facing charges of first-degree arson a class felony two counts of impersonating a peace officer a class felony false imprisonment a class felony menacing with a real or simulated weapon a class felony and impersonating a masses servant a class misdemeanor according to court records Judge Sarah Cure made her decision that there was probable cause after a two-part preliminary hearing held July and Oct where the court heard from Loveland Police Department Detective Justin Atwood who was an investigator with the Larimer County Sheriff s Office at the time and U S Forest Institution Special Agent Hannah Nadeau about their involvement in the assessment The fire which was determined by Nadeau to have started at a horseshoe shaped fire pit burned parts of the Sylvan Dale Ranch and over a thousand acres the ranch s owners were planning on donating to the Heart-J Center for Experimental Learning a plan investigators were stated Hobby was against Hobby was employed as a shield officer at the ranch until he was removed in July after repeated incidents with other staff members and coworkers Mr Hobby made statements to a variety of people about a motive to burn and destroy the property and structures owned by the Heart-J Center and Sylvan Dale Ranch prosecution attorney Erin Butler stated Oct Specifically that the property should burn rather than get transferred from Sylvan Dale into the Heart-J Center Investigators unveiled that Hobby had represented himself as a firefighter despite having no formal credentials Hobby worked for the Southwest Situation Command Club during the fire but not in a firefighting threshold Atwood mentioned rather assisting with communications and refrigerators for fire crews When questioned by the defense Atwood announced Anybody could have started this fire and testified that boot prints discovered at the scene could not be determined by experts to match Hobby s Nadeau announced the fire had to have been caused by a human or fire starting device Investigators did find matches and pyro putty in Hobby s home but when questioned by defense Atwood revealed that having incendiary devices is just one element that goes into accusing someone of arson Pyro putty is a waterproof fire starter The expert witness could not say that this was incendiary or whether it was just a camper who recklessly allowed a campfire to escape from them defense attorney Leslie Goldstein revealed Oct In her order regarding the preliminary hearing Cure wrote that the court is required to view evidence presented in the light preponderance favorable to the prosecution adding that they introduced evidence that the fire did not start of natural causes and could have been intentional even though an incendiary device was not identified at the scene She added that the prosecution presented evidence that Hobby was familiar with the site had conflicts with people at the Sylvan Dale Ranch and was in a rush to get to Wyoming around the start of the fire along with other reasons She did acknowledge that the defense provided compelling arguments that cast doubt on the defendant s involvement referring to Atwood and Nadeau s lack of knowledge in parts of the matter including not knowing whether the fire was intentional an escaped campfire or when the fire in fact began Nadeau determined it could have began at any point July to July but ultimately announced the defense s doubt was based on disputes of fact and that she must consider all reasonable inferences in the light the majority favorable to the prosecution Hobby s lawyer Mark Savoy revealed that he needed to make sure the occurrence is heard by the Supreme Court before trial Once the appeal is filed with the Supreme Court the panel of judges could decide not to take Hobby s circumstance or give deference to Cure s decision If that occurs Hobby will return to court in Fort Collins and proceed to trial if an agreement isn t met sooner If the Supreme Court rules that Cure abused her discretion in her order then the development will also come back to the courtroom but the first-degree arson charge will be dismissed due to a lack of probable cause explained defense attorney Matt Pring after the hearing Wednesday In that event Hobby s remaining charges could be settled in a plea deal or in trial A status conference is scheduled for Dec at a m for updates in the occurrence but it may be a while before results of the Supreme Court appeal are known