MARLBOROUGH, MA — A Connecticut man is facing federal charges in connection with two vehicle fires set in Marlborough last month, authorities said.
Haroldo Rodrigues-Jardim Neto, 28, of Hartford, was charged with three counts of arson after authorities said he set fire to a privately owned Mercedes-Benz and a U.S. Postal Service vehicle in Marlborough on Saturday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts. The third charge stems from a fire at a Swampscott rental property earlier that morning.
Rodrigues-Jardim Neto is accused of stopping at a Marlborough gas station and filling a portable gasoline container stored in his car. At about 3:14 a.m., he then set fire to the Mercedes-Benz outside a residence, according to the USAO.
He then traveled to a nearby USPS building where surveillance footage showed him setting fire to a postal vehicle with what appeared to be the same gasoline container, federal prosecutors said.
Rodrigues-Jardim Neto was charged with two counts of arson involving a building or vehicle used in interstate commerce and one count of arson involving federal government property.
He is being held in Connecticut on unrelated state charges and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Thursday. Each arson charge carries a sentence of five to 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
Marlborough police assisted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the investigation.
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