A judge dismissed charges Friday against a 22-year-old man suspected in the Villa La Jolla Apartments fire in June.
John Ruano was charged with arson and causing the fire in an inhabited dwelling, but the Kern County District Attorney’s office asked for charges to be dropped Friday, the same day as his preliminary hearing was set.
His attorney, Mark Raimondo, said the evidence against Ruano was thin and circumstantial. Ruano had lived in the apartment where the fire started, but he had been evicted days before the fire, his attorney said.
Many people saw him at the fire, but he has relatives who live in the apartment, Raimondo said.
Ruano’s girlfriend, Shandee Bales, with whom he has a 2-year-old son, said in a previous interview withThe Californian, that Ruano couldn’t have set the fire because he was with her at the time in an apartment at the other end of the complex.
The couple also lost belongings in the fire, Bales said.
“A good majority of our stuff was still in (his sister’s) apartment, so there’s no reason for him to burn it down,” she said.
Diane Bautista, who recently became assistant manager of the complex, said in a previous interview that she didn’t believe Ruano did it. She pointed out that he still lived at the complex, in a different apartment.
Deputy District Attorney David Wilson did not return phone calls for comment about why he decided to drop charges.
The fire destroyed 14 units, left 60 people without homes and caused $1.5 million worth of damage.
