United States (New Jersey) - A South Jersey firefighter, who admitted to burning down a vacant home with gas from the township firehouse, pleaded guilty today to aggravated arson. Michael S. Petrilak, 23, was a volunteer with the Deptford Township fire department. On Jan. 26, 2012, he and a friend took three bottles of firehouse gas, doused a home on Cattell Road, and lit it ablaze, prosecutors said.

Petrilak, who pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Walter L. Marshall, faces five years in prison at sentencing. He also will be barred from holding any future public position in the state, said Bernie Wiesenfeld, spokesman for the Gloucester Co. Prosecutor's office.

Petrilak will be ordered to split $60,000 restitution for the destroyed home. The case against Petrilak's codefendant, Lewis R. Brooks Jr., 20, of Westville is pending, Weisenfeld said.

Written by The Philadelphia Inquirer

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