Kurt Robert Selzer
A California man was sentenced to 30-81 months in prison for first degree arson after he admitted to burning down the historic Dayton Railroad Depot on June 17, 2020.
Kurt Robert Selzer, 64, admitted the charge on Sept. 27 in Lyon County District Court.
“The historic depot was one of a kind and is irreplaceable,” District Attorney Stephen Rye said. “The crime affected the entire Dayton community.”
Selzer was arrested three days before the arson in Minden after he called 911 five times that morning claiming he was in pain so he could get a sandwich.
He then called 911 again to ask for $50 for a long-distance phone call and again to accuse another person of attacking him. As deputies were counseling him not to call 911 again without good cause, Selzer went back into his motel room to make another 911 call.
He told a Minden judge that he’d won $2,000 at a Minden casino, but couldn’t collect the money. He said once he got the money he would hire his own attorney. He was released from custody after he was evaluated and ordered to stay away from the Minden motel he was staying at.
Instead, he went to Dayton, where he proceeded to set several fires, including the one that claimed the Depot.
He was arrested at the scene. Under his sentence he was ordered to pay $25,000 restitution.
