Poplar Bluff man pleads guilty to setting fires on public land

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – A Poplar Bluff man on Tuesday admitted setting fires that burned 220 acres of U.S. Forest Service and private land in 2022. He also agreed to repay $66,000.

Adam D. Gambling, 44, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one felony count of setting fires on public land.

He admitted setting a series of fires on Novenber 8, 2022 near Beaver Lake in the Mark Twain National Forest in Butler County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.

The fires burned a total of 220.68 acres. Of those acres, 95.3 acres were privately owned.

The U.S. Forest Service developed Gambling as a suspect after an investigation.

During a voluntary interview at his home, Gambling admitted that he had started the fires, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.

He is scheduled to be sentenced May 24. The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine.

Gambling also agreed to pay $66,094 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the cost of fighting the fires.

The U.S. Forest Service investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Shelton prosecuted the case.