Toms River Man Who Set 2 Fires At Home With Couple Inside Gets 7-Year Jail Term

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A convicted arsonist from Toms River has been sentenced to seven years in prison for setting a Toms River home on fire with two people inside the home in 2016, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday.

John Fischer 5th, 27, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Rochelle Gizinski to the seven-year state prison sentence with no early release for second-degree aggravated arson, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

Fischer set fire to a home on Camino Roble in the early hours of Sept. 6, police and prosecutors said. Toms River police and the Pleasant Plains Fire Department responded to the fire at 12:30 a.m. that day and found the homeowner had put out one fire with a fire extinguisher, police said at the time.

The homeowner told police he noticed something burning and saw smoke near the front of the home and flames shooting under his front door. After putting out the front door fire, the man told police he saw a reddish glow coming from the rear of his home. He went outside and found the vinyl siding on the rear of his home on fire, and he was able to extinguish that as well.

Police and investigators could smell the odor of an accelerant, possibly gasoline and saw a burned area on the front steps as well as the burned siding on the rear of the house, police said at the time. The investigation by the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention, Toms River police, the prosecutor's office Arson Unit, the Ocean County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigation unit and the Ocean County Fire Marshal's Office K-9 led to the arrest of Fischer later that day, authorities said.

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, according to online records. He was eligible for parole in 2013 and would have completed his sentence in March 2014, according to online records.

Della Fave said Senior Assistant Prosecutor Bridget Coughlin sought a sentence of eight years with no early release because Fischer placed the victims in danger of death or bodily injury.

Fischer must serve more than 5 years and 11 months before he can be considered for release under parole
supervision, Della Fave said.

John Fischer 5th, via Ocean County Corrections Department; jail image via Shutterstock