FORT COLLINS, Colo. - No charges will be filed against a man authorities called the ''prime suspect'' in the devastating Bobcat Fire near Rocky Mountain National Park last month, officials said Friday.
Kenneth Winchester, 33, of Loveland, was suspected of starting a campfire that grew to engulf 10,600 acres, destroying 22 structures, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office said. No one was injured.
The district attorney's office said Friday there was insufficient evidence to charge Winchester in the fire, which began June 12.
The night before the fire started, Winchester's vehicle was seen parked near the place where the fire started, but no one saw him lighting a fire, sheriff's deputy Cindy Gordon said.
''I know the communities touched by this tragic fire will be disappointed that no charges are being filed,'' Sheriff Jim Alderden said in a written statement. ''But this is one of those cases where the legal elements establishing proof beyond a reasonable doubt just weren't there.''
Winchester had declined to talk to authorities about the case. His lawyer, Don Johnson, did not return a telephone message late Friday afternoon.
The sheriff's office said charges could be filed if new evidence comes to light, but Gordon said the department has no other suspects.
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