Deptford Volunteer Firefighter Sentenced to 5 Years in Arson Case

A 23-year-old Deptford Township man who pleaded guilty to official misconduct in a January 2012 arson case was sentenced to five years in New Jersey state prison Thursday.

Michael S. Petrilak said that he and co-defendant Lewis R. Brooks, 21, of Westville, "got gasoline from a Deptford firehouse and that he personally set fire to a Cattell Road house on Jan. 26, 2012," according to a statement from the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.

"In specifying his misconduct, [Petrilak] acknowledged to his lawyer...that setting the fire was 'outside' his firefighting duties and that the 'benefit' to Petrilak was an opportunity to fight a fire," the statement read.

On March 11, Brooks pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and faces a five-year state prison term; his sentencing is scheduled for May 3. Brooks and Petrilak must serve one year of their sentences before they are parole-eligible.

According to the prosecutor's office, . Both will receive a sentencing recommendation to join a prison fire-setter program; both also forfeit the right to hold public office in the state.

In perhaps the most heartbreaking detail of the case, Alice Sharp, whose family had owned the house on Cattell Road for 75 years, told Superior court Judge Walter L. Marshall Jr. that it was to have been sold three weeks after the fire.

According to the Prosecutor's Office:

The sale fell through, the township is pressing her and her husband to raze the gutted structure and they don’t have the $10,000 cost of demolition, she said. Judge Marshall said he would schedule a restitution hearing if the defendants don’t agree to an amount of compensation in 45 days.

Sharp also said township firefighters “feel really ashamed” for the actions of Petrilak and Brooks but “don’t know what to do to help us.”