Man Set Fire To Bergen County Apartment Building: Prosecutors

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Lyndhurst man was charged with arson on Tuesday for setting a fire inside his apartment building, prosecutors said.

Alexander Pluchino, 42, was charged with aggravated arson, risk of widespread injury or damage, and other offenses, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that at 8:25 a.m. Tuesday, police and firefighters responded to a blaze at 522 Valley Brook Ave.

Police removed a resident who was located near the source of the fire, prosecutors said. First responders extinguished the blaze.

An investigation determined that the resident near the fire source was Pluchino, and that he had intentionally started the blaze by setting fire to cardboard and debris in a stairwell, prosecutors said.

He was also charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree failure to take responsible measure to put out, control, or report a fire, prosecutors said.

He was taken to the Bergen County Jail to await his first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court, prosecutors said.

Pluchino had posted a photo on Facebook of himself in a medical facility last week, saying police had forced him to go.