LEBANON — Felony charges were dismissed Wednesday against a former Franklin firefighter accused of molesting a boy in the department's Explorer program.

        A defense attorney for 23-year-old Paul Johnston Jr. went to Warren County Common Pleas Court to challenge the charges against her client, but instead got an agreement from prosecutors to drop them.

        Prosecutor Tim Oliver said he may seek future charges against Mr. Johnston after reviewing the case.

        He said charges were dropped because of a discrepancy between the dates of the alleged offenses in the indictment and the dates the victim supplied to an assistant prosecutor in interviews to prepare for a Sept. 19 trial.

        “The age of the victim and age of the defendant do not fit the scene. The original investigator got all the dates mixed up,” said Assistant Prosecutor Joanne Hash, who was assigned to try the case.

        Mr. Johnston, who was placed on probation in 1999 for fondling two other boys in an unrelated incident, faced three counts of gross sexual imposition and one charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in the recent case. The charges carry a 16-year prison term.

        Authorities alleged that Mr. Johnston fondled the boy in his car in 1995 and 1996 when the boy was 11 and 12 years old, and had oral sex with him in a shed behind the Johnston family's Lake Avenue home in 1997 when the boy was 14. The boy is now 18.

        Defense lawyer Jennifer Batliner said Mr. Johnston would have been a juvenile at the time of the alleged offenses, so the case should have been filed in juvenile court.

        In a motion to dismiss the charges, Ms. Batliner also said excessive delays in the investigation had destroyed any chance of finding evidence that would possibly exonerate Mr. Johnston.

        She said police were aware of the case in August 2000, when the boy and his father reported that Mr. Johnston had been driving the boy around in his car “teaching him how to masturbate.”

        Wednesday, Ms. Batliner said Mr. Johnston maintains his innocence.

        “He has always denied it. He continues to deny it. He is an innocent person,” she said.

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