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Richard Orlandini, 62, of Wilkes Barre, collected at least $75,000 from Allstate by "recklessly placing others in danger of death or bodily injury," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Firefighters reported finding the two-story single-family home on Chapel Avenue West well-involved shortly before 1:30 a.m. Oct. 20, 2018. No injuries were reported and the house had to be demolished.
Orlandini deliberately set the fire in order to cash in, according to an investigation by the state Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP).
Orlandini was also charged in Wyoming County Court, PA earlier this year with trying to steal $85,000 from his elderly mother, records show.
He was also arrested last year after police in Plains Township said they discovered guns, ammo, heroin, meth and drug packaging materials in his vehicle after finding him passed out in the driver's seat behind a commercial building. Orlandini reportedly told them he'd gone on a bad date with a woman he'd just met in Wilkes-Barre.
The insurance fraud investigators in the New Jersey case had help from the state Fire Marshal’s Office, State Police, the Cherry Hill Fire Marshal’s Office, Cherry Hill police, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Platkin said.
Deputy Attorney General Amanda Nini, in turn, secured the indictment charging Orlandini with aggravated arson and insurance fraud, among other counts, he said.
Orlandini is set to be arraigned on the charges on Dec. 4 in Superior Court in Camden County, the attorney general said.
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