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Fort McMurray Crown prosecutor Bryson McDonald told court a female RCMP officer spotted a man walking around Fort McMurray “looking suspicious” and not wearing firefighting clothes about 2 p.m. May 6.

McDonald said the man then ran from the officer, who called for backup and a police dog. The man was tracked to Stodola’s home, where he was arrested.

The prosecutor said the initial RCMP officer positively identified Stodola as the person she saw. Police then found the two homes with their front doors kicked in. McDonald said a fingerprint was lifted from one of the doors. All of the signs “point to the damage having being caused by him,” McDonald said.

It is not known if anything was taken from the homes.

“Reasonable people don’t run from police,” said McDonald, adding the man was “obviously up to no good.”

Defence lawyer Danielle Boisvert told court that Stodola and his parents stayed in Fort McMurray so they could “put out hot spots and watch their home.”

Boisvert said it was quite a distance between Stodola’s home and the two homes on Waniandy Way, and argued that there was only a 10-minute gap between the suspect first being spotted and officers seeing Stodola near his home.

“They arrested the wrong guy,” said Boisvert, adding that police also entered the home and seized Stodola’s shoes without a warrant.

Boisvert told court that Stodola graduated from high school in 2014 and said he is an apprentice carpenter who has finished his first year at NAIT. Court heard Stodola has no criminal record.

He is slated to be in court July 20.