Evicted Man Carved Swastika, Set Fire To Manchester Home, Affidavit Says

MANCHESTER, NJ — A man accused of setting a fire and carving antisemitic messages at a Manchester Township home said he carved a swastika into the front door so it would be the first thing the owner saw when he arrived, court documents say.

Dalin J. Brown, 24, also told authorities he had been evicted from the home a year ago, and had been living in the woods in Toms River and Manchester since then, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in Brown's arrest.

Brown carved "666," "Bye Devil," and "This Is the Devil's House" into the walls of the home, and had broken into the house twice, the affidavit said.

He was arrested March 31 on charges of aggravated arson, burglary, bias intimidation, criminal mischief and criminal trespass, and is being held at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The house, on 12th Avenue in the Pine Lake Park section, was undergoing renovations and was not occupied when the fire and carvings happened, authorities said.

The contractor renovating the house called Manchester police shortly before 10 a.m. on March 30 after discovering the damage, which had happened sometime after the crew left about 5 p.m. on March 26, the affidavit said.

As authorities were documenting the damage, the contractor told police his work crew had arrived at the house on March 23 and found the front door open and windows ajar and a man — later identified as Brown — in the living room.

The man told the contractor he was there because he needed to charge his phone. The contractor told him to leave and took a photo of the man, the affidavit said.

The property owner did not call police on March 23 because there was no damage to the house, the contractor told authorities. Brown then left on a purple bicycle. The photo the contractor took of Brown showed the bicycle in the background; it had "distinct tan and black rims with a white sticker in between the spokes," the affidavit said.

Police checked with businesses in the area; two employees at Wawa recognized him and identified him as Brown, saying they had seen him before and knew him from high school.

Police also matched the photo taken by the contractor that showed the bicycle to a photo of the bicycle on Brown's social media accounts, the affidavit said.

In addition, detectives showed the photo to neighbors and asked those with cameras to check their surveillance footage for any suspicious activity from the evening of March 26, after the renovation crew left, until March 30.

One neighbor told police she recognized the man and told police he had lived at the house but had moved out a year earlier, the affidavit said.

"She specifically recognized him because he drove a loud Nissan car that used to wake up her children," according to the affidavit.

Detectives learned where Brown worked, and went there and asked him to go to Manchester police headquarters, where he agreed to speak without an attorney present, the affidavit said.

Brown told police he had been living in various areas in the woods in Manchester and Toms River since being evicted from the home, and on March 22 he bought a bottle of rum and started drinking, the affidavit said.

"He stated that he lost his memory due to his consumption of alcohol" but eventually went to the house on March 23 and climbed in a rear window that he knew would be unlocked from when he lived there previously, the affidavit said.

Brpwn told authorities he returned to the house on March 29, approximately between 2 and 4 a.m. and broke a window to get in. He said he then set fire to cardboard that was on the floor in the living room, according to the affidavit.

"Brown further stated that he was upset that he was evicted from the residence and living in the woods," the affidavit said.

"He stated that they were moving in (meaning members of the Jewish community)," the affidavit said.

He carved the 666 and "This is the Devils House" in the wall and carved a swastika on the front door "because it would be the first thing the owner would see when he arrived at the residence," the affidavit said.

He was charged with second-degree aggravated arson, second-degree bias intimidation, third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief for the March 29 incident, and fourth-degree criminal trespass for the March 23 break-in.