Two Middletown Men, Including Volunteer Firefighter, Charged with Setting Barn Fire Last Weekend

A Middletown volunteer firefighter is facing charges of Official Misconduct, as well as other charges he and another township man are facing for purposefully setting fire to a barn on an abandoned property along Middletown Road Saturday morning leaving the volunteer firefighter in critical but stable condition, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Sean Powers, 22, of Middletown and a volunteer firefighter at the Navesink Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 since March 2012, and William Rohweder, 23, also of Middletown, are each charged with one count of second degree Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Arson, one count of second degree Aggravated Arson and one count of third degree Aggravated Assault.

Because of Powers’ status as a volunteer fireman, he is also charged with one count of second degree Official Misconduct for his role in the arson. Official Misconduct carries with it a maximum prison sentence of ten years, a minimum period of parole ineligibility of five years. Additionally, if convicted, Powers would also be required to forfeit his position as a volunteer firefighter and banned from holding any public employment in the State of New Jersey in the future.

Each of the charges of Conspiracy and Aggravated Assault carries with it a maximum prison sentence of ten years in a New Jersey state prison. The Aggravated Arson charge is subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) requiring him to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole. Each of the men faces a maximum state prison sentence of up to five years on the third degree Aggravated Assault charge.

Rohweder was released from the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, after posting $85,000 bail with no option to post 10 percent. A requirement of bail is may he not return to the scene of the incident, as ordered by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen, J.S.C.

Powers received serious burn injuries and is presently in critical but stable condition at The Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, in Livingston. Judge Kilgallen set his bail as Released On Recognizance (ROR) on the condition he remains an in-patient at the medical facility. Upon his release from in-patient care, the bail shall be reviewed, she ordered. Once bail is reviewed, a condition of bail will also be an order Powers Not Return to the Scene.

Middletown fire and emergency personnel were dispatched to 251 Monmouth Avenue at 5:48 a.m. on Saturday on the report of a structure fire at that location. A 911 call initially reported fire engulfed a barn situated on an abandoned residential property. Several Middletown firehouses responded to extinguish the blaze, including the Navesink Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. One of the firefighters from that firehouse received minor injuries while responding to the call. The structure was completely destroyed.

A joint investigation by the Major Crimes Bureau of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Middletown Township Police Department into the origin and circumstances of the early morning barn fire on Saturday, October 4, at 251 Monmouth Avenue in the township, revealed Powers and Rohweder purposefully set the structure ablaze by dousing the interior of the barn with a flammable liquid. Once the fire was set, Powers and Rohweder fled the scene. While lighting the structure on fire, Powers received serious burn injuries, and is presently hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.