High bail for couple charged with setting fire to Route 46 used car lot

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An Essex couple broke into a Route 46 used-car lot in Little Ferry and set fire to the place when they couldn’t find the titles to three vehicles one of them bought with $60,000 worth of rubber checks, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.

Jerry DeMarco

08/08/2011 8:49 p.m.

Martyse Lewis, left, Jasmine Tanniehill Courtesy: BERGEN PROSECUTOR

Martyse Lewis Jr., a 19-year-old restaurant worker from Bloomfield, paid for the three cars in March with checks that all bounced, Molinelli said.

So, the prosecutor said, he and Jasmine Tanniehill of Newark, a hardware store cashier who is also 19, got into the office of Victoria’s Auto Sales around 6 a.m. on July 19 hoping to find the ownership papers on the three cars.

“They failed in their efforts to find the titles and subsequently set fire to the dealership using a flammable substance in an effort to destroy the paperwork,” Molinelli said.

Detectives recovered all three vehicles and arrested the pair earlier this week, he said.

Both are charged with aggravated arson, arson, burglary and theft — prompting a high bail for each: $200,000. Lewis and Tanniehill are being held in the Bergen County Jail pending a Little Ferry Municipal Court date set for this Thursday.

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