County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Holly, without going into detail, told the judge that his office had chosen to drop the felony arson and insurance fraud charges based on review of evidence and witness statements since the charges were filed.

“I'm prepared to try” the case on the misdemeanor, defense attorney Fred Bernardi told Tazewell County Circuit Judge Stuart Borden. “It's a totally circumstantial case,” he said in describing the evidence he had reviewed since Borden granted Tsepelas' request for a new lawyer in October.

Tsepelas, however, “wishes to compromise,” Bernardi told Borden.

In a final twist, Tsepelas, 65, requested a stipulated bench trial. Instead of pleading guilty, he agreed not to contest the evidence and allow Borden to issue a verdict.

In less time that it takes for an ice cream to melt on a scorching summer day, Borden found Tsepelas guilty. He ordered him to pay $2,350 in restitution to two fire departments that responded to the fire in addition to the two-year probation term.

Firefighters responded to the May 19, 2009 fire shortly before 10:30 p.m. They discovered a plastic gas can on fire in a utility room at the base of the shop's unused water heater and a candle that had been broken and lit lying next to it.

Tsepelas admits to placing the gas can in the utility room and that he was the only one in the shop when he set its fire alarm, locked the door and left. He was driving home, he says, when his son called to tell him the fire alarm had gone off.

Evidence also reveals that, a day after the fire, Tsepelas filed an insurance claim for damages exceeding $5,000.