Browning woman admits lying to FBI in investigation of apartment fire on Blackfeet Indian Reservation

GREAT FALLS - A Browning woman admitted today to lying to the FBI during an investigation of a fire at an apartment building on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Amorette Diederika Ground, 33, pleaded guilty to false statement. Ground faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing was set for Feb. 5, 2025. Ground was released pending further proceedings.

In court documents, the government alleged that on July 23, 2023, law enforcement and emergency services responded to multiple calls to Blackfeet dispatch of a fire at the Death Row apartments in Browning, on the Blackfeet Reservation. The burned apartment belonged to Blackfeet Housing Authority and had been rented previously by Ground. A state fire investigator arrived the next morning and determined that the fire was deliberately set. An FBI agent also arrived the same day and conducted interviews in conjunction with the fire investigator and Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services. A witness reported that Ground had been at the witness' house the evening before and that the fire broke out right after Ground left. That same day, the FBI interviewed Ground regarding her whereabout the night before. Ground denied being near the apartments on the previous evening. The agent advised Ground that it was a federal crime to lie to a federal agent. Ground continued to deny being at the witness' house the day before. Eventually, Ground admitted to having been at the residence the night before.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case. The FBI, Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services and Montana Division of Criminal Investigation's Fire Prevention and Investigation Section conducted the investigation.

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