The man suspected of causing the Spring Fire appeared in court Thursday in Costilla County.
Jesper Joergensen appeared in court for a status conference Wednesday. The court set his preliminary hearing date for Aug. 16.
Joergensen is facing 141 counts of arson in connection to the 108,045 acre wildfire in Costilla and Huerfano Counties.
Costilla County deputies say he told them different stories about how the fire started. He first told Deputies he was burning trash and he later told them he was cooking meat in a fire pit and thought he had doused the fire.
Joergensen was arrested on the same day the fire started. Local authorities, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement all took part in the investigation.
Following his arrest, an immigration detainer was placed with the Costilla County Jail on Joergensen. According to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Joergensen is an illegal immigrant from Denmark.
Aliens who are criminally convicted and sentenced are pursued by ICE officers to be removed from the United States after they have completed their prison sentences, ICE said in a statement.
