Fergus Falls Man Pleads Guilty to Burning Another Person’s Car

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota
August 14, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS—Yesterday in federal court in Duluth, a 32-year-old Fergus Falls man pleaded guilty to setting fire to another person’s car on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Kevin John Ehrich pleaded guilty to one count of arson. Ehrich, who was charged June 5, 2012, in a superseding indictment, entered his plea before United States District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle.

In his plea agreement, Ehrich admitted that on March 28, 2010, he set fire to a 1991 Oldsmobile, destroying it to conceal that he had stolen it. Ehrich also admitted removing the vehicle’s identification number (VIN) in an effort to obstruct any subsequent investigation.

For his crime, Ehrich faces a potential maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Judge Kyle will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled. This case is the result of an investigation by the Red Lake Tribal Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford B. Wardlaw.

Because the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a federal-jurisdiction reservation, some of the crimes that occur there are investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Those cases are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.