An Indiana man who told a federal officer that a wad of burning toilet paper set off a wildfire on Auxier Ridge in the Red River Gorge has pleaded guilty to a petty offense and been ordered to repay the U.S. Forest Service $6,100, according to a judgment entered Wednesday, Sept. 10, in U.S. District Court in Lexington.

Benjamin A. Hunter, 46, of New Albany, Indiana, pleaded guilty to a single count of causing timber, trees, brush or grass to burn on national forest land, a violation of 36 C.F.R. § 261.5(c). U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew A. Stinnett imposed the sentence Aug. 27 and signed the written judgment Sept. 10. No defense attorney is listed on the judgment.

Hunter received no fine and no jail time. He owes $6,100 in restitution to the USDA Forest Service, a $10 special assessment and a $30 processing fee, all due by April 1, 2027. Stinnett found Hunter does not have the ability to pay interest and waived it.

The account of how the fire started comes from the violation notice and sworn statement of probable cause written by Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer J. Woychowski, which was filed alongside the judgment. Woychowski wrote that on Thursday, March 26, a fire supervisor called and texted him repeatedly about a human-caused wildfire at Auxier Ridge, off Tunnel Ridge Road in Powell County.

Hunter had been camping with his son. In a phone interview with the officer, he said that at about 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, he walked 10 to 15 feet from camp to use the bathroom, then burned his toilet paper. The burning paper ignited dry leaves on the ground. Hunter said he tried to scrape a fire line to hold it but could not, and the fire ran downslope away from his camp.

Hunter called 911 and stayed at the scene, according to the statement. He and his son hiked back to the Auxier Ridge parking area, met the responding Forest Service firefighters and led them back to the fire. Woychowski wrote that he conducted an origin-and-cause investigation and concluded Hunter's actions caused the fire, then issued the citation.

The Daniel Boone National Forest first put the fire at 5 to 10 acres on March 26. In an update posted Monday, March 30, the forest said the Auxier Ridge Wildfire was 100 percent contained at six acres, that a Type 6 engine and a five-person module would stay on to watch for hot spots, and that the closure of the Auxier Ridge trailhead, Double Arch Trail, Courthouse Rock Trail, Auxier Branch Trail, Auxier Ridge Trail and Tunnel Ridge Road past Gray's Arch had been lifted.

The fire came during a dry, windy stretch in which forest fires were also burning in Perry, Whitley and Floyd counties, WKYT reported on March 26. Forest spokesperson Mary O'Malley told the station the Auxier Ridge fire was human-caused but that an official cause had not yet been determined. Three weeks later, on April 16, the Daniel Boone National Forest banned campfires and open burning outside developed recreation areas across the forest as the Alum Fire in McCreary County passed 990 acres.

Auxier Ridge is a popular hiking and backcountry camping area in the Red River Gorge Geological Area, about an hour's drive east of Lexington. Forest Service rules for the gorge require overnight vehicles to display a backcountry camping permit and tents to be at least 300 feet from roads, parking lots and official trails. The regulation Hunter admitted violating carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine under 16 U.S.C. § 551.

The judgment does not itemize the $6,100 or say how the Forest Service calculated it. The Lexington Times did not seek comment from Hunter, whose case is closed.