By Michael O. Allen and Lisa Rein, Record Staff Writers | Friday, July 26, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03
A 21-year-old volunteer firefighter and two borough juveniles were arrested Wednesday on charges that they broke into an abandoned house on May 9, doused it with kerosene, and set it on fire, officials said.
George Joseph Leuffgen of Maple Street and two 17-year-olds, whom Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy declined to identify because of their age, were charged Thursday with burglary and aggravated arson.
Fahy said someone cut off a padlock in the rear of the single-family house at 658 Prospect Ave. on the day of the fire. The fire started in the first-floor bathroom of the house and was reported about 1:10 a.m., he said.
“When investigators went to the scene right after the fire,” Fahy said, “there was a strong odor of kerosene.”
Investigators subsequently received information that Leuffgen was involved in setting the fire. He was arrested about 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, Fahy said.
Leuffgen was one of 80 firefighters on Fairview’s force. Craig Krivda, a councilman and the town’s fire commissioner, said he was searching for reasons why Leuffgen might have set a vacant house on fire.
“He’s a helpful guy who lends a hand whenever he’s around,” Krivda said. “Maybe for the younger guys, this is something exciting, to set a fire and put it out. I can’t figure this out.”
The prosecutor also said he did not know why Leuffgen, a four-year veteran of the department, set the fire.
“The fireman [Leuffgen] had no proprietary interest in the house. He would have gained nothing, as far as we could determine,” Fahy said.
Leuffgen was being held Thursday in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. The juveniles were released to the custody of their parents.
Keywords: FAIRVIEW; FIREMAN; YOUTH; ARSON; PROBE
ID: 17350681 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)
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