GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A Cadillac man who spent four years in prison before he was cleared of arson has filed a federal lawsuit against Wexford County, three sheriff’s deputies and a state police trooper.

Victor Caminata, 40, was sentenced to nine to 40 years in prison for burning down his girlfriend’s house in Boon Township, east of Cadillac, where he was living in 2008.

Michigan Innocence Clinic hired arson investigators, who found police analysis of the fire’s cause to be flawed. The Innocence Clinic determined that the cause of the fire was accidental from an improperly-installed wood stove.

Caminata’s attorneys argued that police withheld evidence from the fire scene that “contradicted” the police theory of the fire’s origin.

At a July 2, 2013, hearing, the prosecution determined that Caminata’s conviction should be vacated. A judge ordered a new trial and released Caminata on bond. Six months later, the prosecution, after further investigation, dropped the charge. Caminata, who had been stabbed and beaten while in prison, was a free man.

"I'm glad this is over with … glad my name has been cleared for me," he said in a story published by the University of Michigan Law School, which is a partner in the Innocence Clinic.

Caminata filed the lawsuit against Wexford County, sergeants Brian Rood and Trent Taylor, Deputy Chad Sprik and state police Sgt. Michael Jenkinson, a fire investigator.

The fire broke out just before noon at the home of Caminata’s then-girlfriend, Nicole Vanderhoef. He noticed smoke coming from the wall surrounding the chimney in the living room. Her son also noticed smoke.

Caminata immediately ran downstairs and used a fire extinguisher on the wood-burning stove, the lawsuit said. He ran outside, used a ladder to get on the roof, and dropped a fire retardant into the chimney. He then called 911.

Despite his attempts to stop the fire, the blaze spread and caused the roof to collapse, eventually destroying the house.

Sheriff's detectives investigated the stove, chimney and wood surrounding it. Rood noted a thimble hole, about 6 inches in diameter, was uncovered. Investigators later learned the hole had once been used to vent an old stove on the first floor. Authorities later asked the state police to assist with the investigation.

“Jenkinson purportedly ruled out the chimney thimble hole being the origin of the fire based on his reconstruction of wood boards covering the thimble hole, concluding that the boards would have burned and been consumed if the fire originated at the thimble hole,” Caminata's attorney, Wolfgang Mueller, wrote in the lawsuit.

“Since his reconstruction of the boards showed an unburned wood board over the thimble hole opening, he concluded that the fire could not have originated at that location.”

Jenkinson concluded that “this is not a chimney fire as reported by the occupant. Human involvement cannot be eliminated at this time,” the lawsuit said.

After Jenkinson’s inspection, state police received an anonymous tip that Caminata had bragged that as a former firefighter, he could burn down a house without getting caught.

Jenkinson returned to the house for further investigation. During the inspection, he found “two small pockets of deep charring” in the basement’s ceiling floor joists. He said the two pockets were not connected to heavy burning on the insides of the joists, despite the holes going through the wood.

“These deep, isolated pockets of burning certainly have the appearance and are consistent with a heavy, direct flame source having been applied, similar to that of a propane torch,” Jenkinson wrote in his report.

The lawsuit claims Jenkinson improperly repositioned wood boards, leaving the impression that a board had covered the thimble hole when no board had covered it.

Jenkinson’s finding that wood covered the thimble hole was contradicted by photos Rood took soon after the fire, the lawsuit contends.

“From March 2, 2008, and continuing through the completion of the trial resulting in plaintiff’s arson conviction on May 14, 2009, neither Rood nor Taylor ever disclosed to the prosecutor that Rood’s photographs of the wood board’s on the chimney’s west side contradicted Jenkinson’s reconstruction of the wood boards, and that Rood’s observation of the exposed thimble hole contradicted Jenkinson’s conclusion of a wood board covering the thimble hole during the fire, though such evidence was in both of their hands.”

The withheld evidence prevented the defense from impeaching conclusions of the “prosecution’s star expert witness, Jenkinson,” Mueller wrote.

On July 2, 2013, the Innocence Clinic, having filed a motion to vacate the verdict and order a new trial, met with attorneys representing the state and experts on both sides, including Jenkinson.

Attorneys and experts reviewed Rood’s photographs of the thimble hole “that had purportedly just been discovered the night before,” along with his statements that the thimble hole was uncovered and that Jenkinson’s reconstruction was wrong, the lawsuit said.

“In agreeing to a new trial, the state prosecutor stated on the record that the newly discovered photographs had caused the state’s experts, including Jenkinson, to conclude that the fire should have properly been classified as ‘undetermined,’ and that ‘actual prejudice’ had occurred. The prosecutor further stated that, based upon the newly discovered evidence, ‘there would be a reasonable likelihood of acquittal,’” the lawsuit said.

The state dropped all charges.

Caminata has had trouble before. He earlier pleaded guilty in Osceola County to two charges of fraudulent use of building contractor funds, and pleaded no contest to larceny by conversion, records showed.

Gregory Grant, attorney for Wexford County and the deputies, declined to comment.

In court documents, he said that the defendants have governmental immunity and qualified immunity, which protects them while on duty from civil liability if the conduct does not violate laws or constitutional rights.

He said the deputies “acted in good faith and acted in a reasonable manner."

"Caminata’s claims are barred by his own negligence or criminal conduct,” Grant wrote.

Assistant Attorney General John Fedynsky said Jenkinson has immunity. He and Grant both denied many of the allegations contained in the lawsuit.

John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar