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The two men arrested for allegedly setting a 5-year-old boy's head aflame with a "redneck flamethrower" in Anchor Point last month were formally accused Nov. 25, and the men are scheduled for an arraignment in Superior Court this afternoon.

Stephen Ray Dilley II, 32, and Jonathon M. Miller, 29, were indicted for five separate felony counts relating to a Nov. 13 incident when Miller allegedly sprayed a can of igniter fluid and lit it near a boy they were babysitting.

The men were indicted with two assault charges in the first degree, one in the second degree and two more in the third degree. They are in custody at the Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai.

Dilley has also been charged with violating a restraining order in the incident. The boy's mother, Belinda Russell, had demanded Dilley not come within 500 feet of the home. Russell and Dilley were divorced on Jan. 16, 2009, court records show.

Since responding to the incident, Alaska Highway Patrolman Ryan Browning said he has had many individuals call him with stories about the men's troubled pasts. He could not confirm any of the anecdotal reports, however.

"I've had several families call me. Basically, these two guys have a history and they shouldn't be left in society," Browning said.

On Nov. 16, was notified that a 5-year-old student at Chapman Elementary School in Anchor point had come to school with burns on his face and head, according to Browning's affidavit.

The boy told Browning that Jonathan Miller, the boy's mother's current boyfriend, and Miller's friend "Steve-O" [Dilley] were watching him on Nov. 13.

Dilley stated he and Miller were at the house, smoking on the porch, when they came inside to grab a compressed can of starter fluid.

Dilley said, "You know what would be funny?" and handed the can to Miller. Miller said "do you know how much trouble I could get in for this?" right before calling the boy, according to the affidavit.

When the boy emerged from his bedroom, Miller lit the spray with a lighter pointed at the boy. The flame lasted less than a second, but the boy's head was still on fire. The men ran to the boy, patted out the flames with their hands and then tended to the burns. They did not take the boy immediately to the hospital, according to Browning's affidavit. Russell's children were seized by Alaska's Office of Children Services following the incident, according to Browning.

Miller said he did not mean to hurt the boy. He was trying toughen the boy up and the best way to do that is to "scare the [expletive] out of them when they don't see it coming," according to Browning's affidavit.

The boy said he did not know how the incident happened and did not know what caused the injuries on his face. He called it a "practical joke gone wrong."

"What kind of 5-year-old talks like that?" Browning said Monday. "You immediately start thinking there's some coaching going on."

When Browning saw the boy on Nov. 16, he saw burn marks on the boy's face that spanned from the bridge of the boy's nose to the left earlobe. Browning's affidavit also states that some of the boy's hair was singed.

"The inside of his nose looked like crack leather," Browning said. "He had a half dollar sized blister on his left temple and he said when his picks his nose, his skin bleeds."

The boy's mother, Belinda Russell, did not learn about her son's injuries until about 3:30 on Nov. 16 after she got out of the South Peninsula Emergency Room, where she had been treated for overdosing on her bi-polar medications.

Russell said she did not know how her son was hurt. She said Miller said the burns came from an accident with a burn barrel, according to the affidavit. She did not take her son to the emergency room because she did not think the injuries were that severe.

Reporter Andrew Waite can be reached at andrew.waite@peninsulaclarion.com