Two Former New Jersey Firefighters Admit To Setting Blaze Behind Department Store
WOODBURY, N.J. (AP) -- Two former volunteer firefighters have admitted setting a fire behind a department store and then battling the blaze alongside members of their fire company.
Nicholas A. Falconiero, 20, and Stephen E. Clark, 19, pleaded guilty Friday to official misconduct for setting the fire behind a department store last year. Under a plea deal with Gloucester County prosecutors, they face 364 days in county jail when sentenced March 18.
The two were suspended from their Washington Township fire company after their arrests last year. They were charged along with Joseph Castagno, 20, a member of the township's police explorer program. He pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree arson in December and is expected to be sentenced to probation.
Falconiero and Clark also face a lifetime ban on holding firefighter or police officer jobs.
At a court hearing Friday, Clark admitted driving Falconiero from their fire company to a Target store in Washington Township, where Falconiero started a fire. Clark then drove them back to the fire station and the two joined with colleagues to fight the blaze.
The three men originally were charged with setting six brush and building fires in Washington Township between Jan. 21 and March 3, 2004. No one was injured in the fires.
