73°
Officers found several cars “engulfed in flames” at the Union Auto Salvage on Paterson Avenue in Wallington just after 4:30 this morning, said Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli.
At nearby Samuel Nelkin County Park, several other fires were burning, as well, he said.
“An eyewitness described three males fleeing the scene,” Molinelli said, and officers — along with a Bergen County Police dog — followed fresh footprints to Tuttle Street, where they arrested 20-year-old Tomasz S. Galdys.
After interviewing him, they arrested two juveniles, 16 and 17, also of Wallington, the prosecutor said.
Molinelli said the three broke into a private garage on the corner of Hathaway and First Streets, in Wallington, where they stole two containers of gasoline.
They “illegally entered the auto lot through a hole in the fence, poured gas inside the passenger compartment of a car and lit it on fire,” the prosecutor said. “The ensuing fire ignited numerous other adjacent cars.”
On their way to the park, the rampaging trio smashed windows on at least a dozen parked cars in various lots, Molinelli said.
Then they poured gas on the exterior of the utility garage, a bathroom area, a portable toilet and a trash bin and set them all aflame, he said.
Galdys is being held on $75,000 bail at the Bergen County Jail, charged with three counts of aggravated arson, four counts of arson, three counts of criminal mischief, and one count each of burglary, theft and criminal trespass.
He’s due in Superior Court in Hackensack at 9 tomorrow morning.
The juveniles are in the detention center in Paramus, facing complaints equivalent to the criminal charges against Galdys.
PHOTO: Courtesy Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
{loadposition log}
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
