Toms River Arsonist Accused Of Setting Another Fire: Police

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man who spent time in prison previously for arson has been arrested on arson charges again, Toms River police said Wednesday.

John Fischer 5th, 26, of Rosewood Drive, Toms River, has been charged with aggravated arson in the incident, Toms River Police Department spokesman Ralph Stocco said.

Stocco said police and the Pleasant Plains Fire Company responded to a home on Camino Roble Drive about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for the report of a structure fire. The 42-year-old man who lives in the home told police he noticed something burning and saw smoke near the front of the home and flames shooting under his front door, Stocco said.

After using a fire extinguisher to put the front door fire out, the man told police he saw a reddish glow coming from the rear of his home, Stocco said. The man went outside and found the vinyl siding on the rear of his home on fire, and he was able to extinguish that as well, Stocco said.

Patrol Officer Raymond Beyerle, the first to arrive, smelled the odor of an accelerant, possibly gasoline, Stocco said, and saw a burned area on the front steps as well as the burned siding on the rear of the house.

Toms River Arson Detective Thomas DiMichele investigated, and as a result of the investigation arrested and charged Fischer with aggravated arson.

According to public records online, Fischer was previously convicted of aggravated arson in September 2011, along with five counts of burglary and one count of theft, and spent at least two years in the Garden State Youth Correctional facility. Online records indicate he was eligible for parole in 2013 and would have completed his sentence in March 2014.

The circumstances of that incident were not immediately available.

Fischer is being held at the Ocean County Jail in lieu of bail of $78,428.11, of which $3,,428.11 is in relation to unpaid child support, according to jail records.

John Fischer 5th, via Ocean County Corrections Department