Footprints in the snow lead authorities to charge an Athens man with arson in connection with a house fire that occurred on Feb. 28, authorities said.

Dwayne Weese

The Office of the State Fire Marshal made the connection to Dwayne Weese, 52, after a Maine State Police tracking dog followed footprints in the snow, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. The footprints came from the crawl space under the house where the fire started and continued to Weese’s residence next door on Vernal Huff Road, McCausland said in a news release Monday.

A day before the fire, Weese’s mother sold the building to a Standish couple who planned to use the house as a recreational camp.

The house sustained minor damage as the fire extinguished itself, McCausland said.

Weese was taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison and appeared in court Monday afternoon after the fire marshal’s office charged him with arson.