TOPEKA – A former firefighter with the Kickapoo Volunteer Fire Department pleaded guilty Tuesday to concealing the fact that grass fires on the reservation were deliberately set, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Tuesday in a news release.

Arlene M. Negonsott, 35, Horton, pleaded guilty to one count of concealing a felony. In her plea, she admitted that she did not tell investigators what she knew when they interviewed her about a series of fires on the Kickapoo Reservation in Brown County. She knew that fire chief and co-defendant Stephen D. Ramirez Jr., arranged for the fires to be set and billed the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Kickapoo Fire Department’s work putting out the fires.

A sentencing date will be determined later. She faces up to three years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Co-defendant Ramirez is awaiting trial, according to the news release.