Man Pleads Guilty To Setting Brick Township Home On Fire

BRICK, NJ ? A Toms River man has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that destroyed a Brick Township home in September and injured three firefighters, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Charles F. Maulbeck, 52, pleaded guilty to arson before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in the Sept. 13 fire on Falkenberg Road, authorities said. He also pleaded guilty to a count of criminal mischief in an unrelated case in Lacey Township, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Brick Township police officers on patrol discovered the fire at the Falkenberg Road home, authorities said. Three firefighters were injured fighting the blaze, authorities said; two were treated at a hospital and the third declined medical attention at the scene.

Investigators determined the fire originated in the north side of the split basement of the home and was caused by someone using a flame to set fire to available combustibles, authorities said. They later determined Maulbeck was responsible for setting the fire, and he was charged Oct. 7.

On Sept. 14, Lacey Township police responded to a Stuyvesant Street home for a report of criminal mischief and found someone had smashed the rear window of a vehicle parked there with a rock. Authorities said investigators found Maulbeck had smashed the window and then left the area, but he was found nearby and arrested.

He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since his Sept. 14 arrest.

The prosecutor's office is expected to seek a term of three years in prison on the arson charge and 18 months on the criminal mischief, with the sentences to run concurrently.