Portable toilets were alleged arson targets

Somers resident Kyle Kavert, 21, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Flathead District Court to a charge of felony arson.

Kavert is alleged to have set fire to and destroyed two portable toilets at the Columbia Falls baseball fields on June 4, 2009. The fire also burned grass around the toilets and damaged two trees and a fence.

The toilets were worth a combined $2,000.

In January 2010, two witnesses to the incident reportedly told police that they and Kavert were riding their bicycles near the baseball fields, when Kavert went into one of the portable toilets then the other. He allegedly came running out and yelled for them all to leave, that he had put all the hand sanitizer in the urinal of one of the toilets and set it on fire.

If convicted, Kavert faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

His next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 5.