A Hardin man pleaded not guilty earlier this week to setting fire to a Billings duplex, killing a house pet.

Ray Morgan Reese Jr. has been charged in Yellowstone County District Court with counts of arson, criminal endangerment and aggravated animal cruelty. At the conclusion of his arraignment June 3, Standing Master Bradley Kneeland set his bond at $150,000.

A cat was killed in the fire, according to court documents, and at least two people went to the hospital.

On May 31, multiple agencies responded to a structure fire on the 2700 block of Fourth Avenue South. A residence had caught fire and an officer met with a woman outside the home who was sitting next to her deceased cat. She told the officer that Reese had been inside her home all day and she had been trying to get him to leave

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