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The suspect also fired a weapon into one of the realtor's buildings, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey.
Leonard J. Mazzarisi, III, 32, formerly of Burgundy Drive in Holmdel, was sentenced on Friday by Superior Court Judge Lourdes Lucas to five years for aggravated arson and an additional five years with 42 months without parole for possession of a weapon For an unlawful purpose, Linskey said. Both sentences are set to run consecutively.
Mazzarisi was convicted on July 30 after a month-long jury trial before Judge Lucas.
On Aug. 19, 2017, Holmdel police responded to a report of a possible arson at 51 Main St., the location of Neuhaus Realty Agency.
Evidence collected there suggested that a fire that damaged a portion of the rear of the building was purposefully set, Linskey said.
A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Holmdel Township Police Department determined the fire was purposefully set by a male captured on video surveillance cameras from Aug. 17, 2017.
On Jan. 27, 2018 at about 10:18 p.m., Holmdel police responded to a second fire at the same Main Street location, finding heavy smoke and fire emanating from the rear of the structure, Linskey said.
Firefighters from the Holmdel Fire Department responded to the scene but the structure already sustained extensive damage.
An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the Holmdel Township Police Department and the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office determined this second fire to also be an act of arson, closely resembling the August 2017 fire, the prosecutor said.
On May 29, 2018, Holmdel police were dispatched to 4 South Holmdel Road on the report of a BB gun being fired into the building. The location is the newest location for Neuhaus Realty, which had been forced to relocate as a result to the Jan. 27 fire.
Detectives from Holmdel Township Police Department reviewed additional surveillance video to determine Mazzarisi was responsible for firing the BB gun into the window of the building, and that he was driving a vehicle that matched the vehicle seen in the video at the January 2018 arson at the former Neuhaus Realty location, Linskey said.
The following day, on May 30, 2018, Mazzarisi was located at a hotel in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was arrested on outstanding warrants stemming from the investigation.
Mazzarisi was held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Virginia until he was extradited back to New Jersey on June 12, 2018 to face these charges.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Anthony Puglisi is handling the case.
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