A northern Minnesota teenager who started two fires so mosquitoes would quit bugging him has been sentenced to time in a juvenile rehabilitation center, where he is expected to "gain insight into the gravity" of igniting the runaway blazes that burned 50 acres of forestland and forced people in homes nearby to flee.

Anthony J. Wittner, 18, of rural Cass Lake, Minn., also was ordered Tuesday in Cass County District Court to pay total restitution of more than $160,000 to the state for its firefighting expenses and to Potlatch Corp. for torching its source of timber.

Wittner, who was 17 at the time of the fires on May 28 along Hwy. 371 in Pike Bay Township, about 20 miles southeast of Bemidji, pleaded guilty to felony arson and misdemeanor fleeing police.

The sentence calls for Wittner to complete a 28-day program at the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center in Bemidji "to help gain insight into the gravity and nature of his offense," read a statement Thursday from the county attorney's office. That time was cut in half because of the 14 days he had previously served in connection with the crime.

As for the restitution required of the teen, about $123,000 will go to the state Department of Natural Resources to cover the costs of fighting the flames for roughly four hours. Crews on the ground and in the air were needed to contain the fires. The amount owed to Potlatch is nearly $38,000.

On the afternoon of the fires, a sheriff's deputy found Wittner nearby at an abandoned railroad bed in the woods. Wittner fled, was soon apprehended and tried to pin the fires on someone else.

County officials debunked Wittner's contention, prompting him to say he started the fires "because mosquitoes were bothering him," read a statement from the county attorney's office at the time.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482