By Michelle Witte
Several Lake Shore area businesses are offering $4,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for setting fires in area hay barns. The Utah County Sheriff''s Office has enlisted the help of local businesses to find the arsonist who set fire to three haystacks in Lake Shore last month.
The Utah Farmers Union, the Utah Dairyman''s Association, Western Ag Credit and the Utah Farm Bureau have stepped forward to support investigators in their search by providing the money that will be used as the reward.
The Sheriff''s office is continuing to investigate the fires that started Nov. 17 early in the morning. A neighbor first noticed them at 3:42 a.m. and called police dispatchers to report the fires. It took firefighters several days to contain the smoldering hay and straw.
The Cornaby family, which owns the fields where all three of the fires happened, lost over $40,000 in damaged hay and cleanup costs.
Although they do not have a suspect in the case, investigators said they hope to catch the person or persons responsible for the arsons with information they receive because of the reward. Often arsonists will brag about their crimes to friends and may even repeat their crime before leaving the area, investigators stated in a press release.
Anyone with information related to the arsons can call the Utah County Sheriff''s U-Tip line at 851-8847.