Prospect explosion was act of arson, grand jury says

Feb. 08--A Prospect man whose house was leveled by an explosion last April that he claimed was set by thieves seeking medical records has been indicted on arson and theft charges.

Michael Charles McNall, 48, whose 4,569-square-foot house near Lost Creek Lake blew up while he and his wife, Karyl, were away, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Witnesses reported hearing about six or more explosions just after 8 p.m. April 9, 2016, and several neighboring houses were damaged in the incident.

A grand jury on Jan. 25 indicted McNall on charges of first-degree arson and attempted aggravated first-degree theft.

Jackson County Deputy District Attorney Nick Geil declined to comment on what led to the theft charge, though court documents allege the attempted theft occurred the same day as the explosion on McNall's 32-acre property at 225 Flounce Rock Road.

Geil declined to say whether McNall was the sole suspect in the explosion.

A call to McNall's lawyer, Peter Carini, was not immediately returned. In an unrelated case in May 2016, Carini defended another man accused of arson, Mark Alan McAlister, the former owner of a Little Caesars franchise in Ashland. McAlister was acquitted on charges of conspiring to commit arson for insurance money.

After his house exploded, McNall told the Mail Tribune that "somebody was trying to kill us."

McNall claimed he and his wife had received threats prior to the explosion, and that his wife had been attacked by masked intruders driving a black, late-model Mercedes.

McNall claimed that the intruders sought files from the McNalls' medical billing company, Pioneer Healthcare Management LLC.

- Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.

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