Alpine
“The fact is I didn’t do it.” Those were the words that a former Alpine firefighter, accused of setting several brush fires over up to two years leading to the summer of 2024, told Big Bend Sentinel in January. On Tuesday, David Matthew Neet, 46, didn’t get a jury verdict proving his words correct, but he did walk free with deferred adjudication—meaning that if he stays out of legal trouble over the next decade, his case will be dismissed without a finding of guilt.
While court records show the result of the latest hearing, they don’t show the thinking behind the 83rd District Attorney’s office and its negotiations with Neet’s defense team to come to the plea deal. The DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment. As for Neet, while he was willing to talk to the Sentinel in January for an extended interview, he declined to comment and referred questions to his defense attorney, who did nog respond to a request for comment.
Alpine residents were alarmed when they watched social media show multiple brush fires—one skirting houses—over a period of a couple of years. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Neet on July 5, 2024, and he was indicted on September 17, 2024. Although originally charged with 20 counts of second-degree felony arson, the indictment was for only one count. Neet eventually pled not guilty and was released on a personal recognizance bond in February 2025, which didn’t require paying anything toward his original $300,000 bond.
A probable cause arrest affidavit for Neet’s arrest outlines much of the prosecutor’s case against him—alleging that Neet used incendiary devices to light brushfires, then rushed to the fire station to grab his gear and join crews to fight the blazes. A deputy spotted a white pickup truck near a fire in the Sunny Glen Estates subdivision, then used security camera footage to get a license plate on the truck, which was traced to Neet. By reviewing security tapes, the deputy pieced together when and where the truck was traveling when several fires broke out. The footage showed Neet’s pickup heading out of town, only to return just as fires were being reported on several occasions. Investigators also obtained records from a fireworks stand just east of town that revealed a credit card purchase by Neet on June 29 for a “Ground Bloom Flower,” a type of firework found at one of the brushfires. Security camera footage also placed him at the firework stand. A court record for a search of Neet’s car revealed items found, including fireworks, matches, a GoPro camera, “firestarters,” tape and a “backpack with electronics.”
While the overall circumstantial evidence seemed overwhelming, the idea that each piece could survive attack from defense attorneys in a trial was also apparent.
Neet served in the military before becoming a paramedic. In Alpine, He worked for the 1st Response EMS team, which provides nonemergency medical transport, and as a volunteer firefighter for several years. “I honestly didn’t do it,” Neet told the Sentinel in January. “Like everybody has said, why would I waste my career, waste everything for that? Neet is now in El Paso.