Crime & Safety
Arson At Essex County Church; Man Accused Of Setting Fire, Police Say
A Verona man has been accused of starting a fire at a local church, authorities said.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A Verona man has been accused of starting a fire at a local church, authorities announced Thursday.
An arson investigation has been launched after a fire took place at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church on Lakeside Avenue in Verona, according to a statement from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Verona Police Department.
Authorities said that police received notice about an active alarm at the church at 3:33 a.m. Emergency responders encountered a “heavy smoke condition” when they arrived at the scene.
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Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, authorities added.
An ensuing investigation by the prosecutor’s Crime Scene Investigations Bureau and the Verona Police Department determined that the fire had multiple points origin and was deliberately set, authorities said.
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According to police, a suspect in the case – Elliot Bennett, 42, of Verona – surrendered himself at Verona police headquarters around 4:30 a.m.
Bennett has since been charged with first-degree bias intimidation, second-degree burglary, second-degree aggravated arson, fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon (two counts), third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (two counts), possession of burglars tools and desecration of venerated objects, which are disorderly persons offenses, prosecutors said.
Bennett will remain in custody at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark pending a court appearance, prosecutors said.
Bennett has been accused of vandalizing the same church in the past. In 2018, he was charged with criminal mischief and bias intimidation after he allegedly smashed statues on the premises because he saw people “worshiping false idols made from stone” at the church, authorities previously said. See Related: Verona Man Charged With Bias Crime, Smashed Church Statues: Police
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