A teenage volunteer firefighter has been charged with setting fire to a Boy Scout shed on a New Jersey church's property before returning to help extinguish the blaze.
Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Joyce was charged Saturday with second-degree aggravated arson in connection with the fire at the United Methodist Church in Fair Haven.
Prosecutors say Joyce ignited the shed, which belongs to a local Boy Scout troop and houses supplies, behind the church sometime before 4:30 p.m. Friday and later returned to the site with the Fair Haven Volunteer firehouse.
A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and Fair Haven police found that the fire had been intentionally set. The probe quickly zeroed in on Joyce, a former Boy Scout.
Joyce faces up to 10 years in prison if he's convicted. His status with the fire department is unknown.
It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment.
New Jersey Teen Volunteer Firefighter Charged with Arson
Copyright AP - Associated Press
