Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli on Tuesday announced the arrest of 28-year-old Brian Marrone, of Fair Lawn.
At approximately 2:50 p.m., on Friday, May 27, Fair Lawn police and fire fighters responded to a 911 call that reported a house fire at 412 Legion Place. The first responders arrived to find a rear corner of the house fully engulfed in flames. The fire intensified and extended into an attic space and the roof rafters before it was extinguished.
The homeowner's son escaped the flames without injury.
Investigators determined that the fire had been intentionally set by an individual who had pried up the house's aluminum siding and applied an external heat source to the wood siding and insulation beneath it.
Early in the investigation, Marrone, another son of the home's owners, was identified as a person of interest.
Marrone had been in contact with the Fair Lawn Police Department earlier in the day, reporting that an unidentified man had threatened to set fire to the residence.
During the course of the investigation, detectives determined that Marrone himself had set the fire. Neighbors told Eyewitness News that the suspect was adopted and had emotional problems.
State records records show he was sentenced and served time in prison for an arson in 2006 before getting out in 2010. He was arrested most recently in March in a theft/fraud case.
Marrone is charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated arson, third-degree arson and failure to report a fire. Bail was set at $1 million with no 10 percent option available.
