ANOTHER CVP EXCLUSIVE: Three men charged in a Dec. 10 arson fire that gutted a vacant Bergenfield house that police said had been used as a hangout had court appearances at the Bergen County Jail today.
Raymond F. Guerrero, 18, Raymond A. Guerrero, 21, and 19-year-old Patrick Williams are all charged with aggravated arson, failing to report or control a fire and burglary.
Patrick Williams, Raymond F. Guerrero, Raymond A. Guerrero (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos by Mary K. Miraglia)
They’ve been held on $50,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail since their arrests Monday.
“It was suspicious but we couldn’t definitively say arson at first,” Bergenfield Police Chief Michael Carr told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
However, Carr said investigators from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Arson Unit worked with his detectives to develop leads that led to the arrests.
The 2½-story house at 16 Fairview Avenue had been empty for nearly two years, he said.
The three-alarm fire around 5:30 p.m. Dec. 10, which drew several companies, took nearly an hour to extinguish.
A firefighter needed stitches after sustaining a cut from broken glass that pierced his glove, officials said.
The rear was so badly damaged that authorities said the building likely will be razed.
