Judge William T. Marshall has made it official.

Marshall signed the document dismissing the charges filed against Michael Thompson, 22, of 676 Naces Run Road, Stout.

The West Portsmouth volunteer firefighter had been arrested April 26 in connection with a fire in Shawnee State Forest.

Meanwhile, the Division of Forestry has made a statement in support of dismissing the charges, and at the same time has made references to exploring “new leads on additional persons of interest.”

Thompson had been charged on May 7 with arson and possession of criminal tools.

On June 23, Scioto County Prosecutor Mark Kuhn announced, “I will submit a dismissal to the court without prejudice. Which means it could be brought back up to allow the state to finish their investigation.”

Now, according to the Scioto County Common Pleas Court Web site, both charges were dismissed on July 1.

The court document reads — “This day came the prosecuting attorney, on behalf of the state of Ohio, and in open court, for good cause shown, with leave of court, entered a dismissal without prejudice on the above case. The arresting agency failed to provide a complete investigation report.”

Kuhn cited The Rules of Superintendents, that a case be indicted within 60 days, and it was approaching 60 days when Kuhn filed for the dismissal.

Cheryl Carpenter, of Shawnee-based Voices for the Forest has been critical of the time and method of DOF’s investigation.

“Sixty days is sufficient time to submit a complete investigation report,” Carpenter said. “Unfortunately, the alleged crime scene is now corrupt. It was never taped off and secured, and evidence of the fire’s point of origin is currently being destroyed by clear-cutting. These developments reiterate the need for an independent investigation by a certified wildland arson investigator, which we believe would indicate the entire 2,870 acres burned were a result of the escaped prescribed burn.”

Thompson was arrested by forest ranger Jerry Chapman on Sunday, April 26, and charged with felony arson and possession of criminal tools in connection with the wildfires that swept through Shawnee State Forest back in April.

Forestry officials have said Thompson was the man who called in the report on the wildfire, but fled from them when they tried to confront him. They said he was apprehended on Mackletree Road and that he allegedly had accelerants on his person at the time.

Kuhn said the Division of Forestry officials had met with him several times and they are continuing to pursue the case.

In a news release last week Andy Ware, assistant chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Forestry said “The Ohio Department of Natural Resources fully supports Prosecutor Kuhn’s procedural motion to request dismissal, without prejudice, of current criminal charges. These charges can be refiled at a later date. And this legal action provides additional time for the Division of Forestry to continue working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Fire Marshal’s Office to explore new leads on additional persons of interest.”

Ware closed out his statement with — “Once these leads are fully reviewed and investigated, the ODNR Division of Forestry will submit charges regarding the Shawnee State Forest wildfire that will show clear and compelling evidence of arson in the Mackletree Road area of the forest.”

Opposition to the charge that the fire was the result of arson has come from an environmental coalition that filed complaints and called for a full scale investigation of the Ohio Division of Forestry’s prescribed burning program.

A member of that coalition, David Maywhoor, director of the Buckeye Forest Council, has also accused the Division of Forestry of setting the prescribed burn despite a National Weather Service warning on Friday, April 24, of “extreme fire danger across much of southern Ohio.”

The April fires that blackened 2,870 acres, stand as the worst forest fire in Ohio history.

FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232.