Home away from home
Joined: 2004/9/15 19:03 Last Login
: 2023/8/15 18:42
Group:
Registered Users
|
REVENGE BY 'ARSON' Charge: Told to leave apartment, she set fire
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 By MICHAELANGELO CONTE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
After being told by her roommate to pack her bags and leave for not paying rent, a Jersey City woman instead decided to try and burn down the apartment building, officials said.
Fashima "Sash" Newson, 37, was arrested this week on charges she doused her roommate's bed with gasoline, locked the roommate's two pit bulls in the bathroom, closed the windows, turned on the stove, and tossed a lit candle onto the bed as she walked out, officials said.
Fortunately, the fire burned itself out and caused minimal damage.
"She had no regard for human life, the property or the two dogs," Fire Director Armando Roman said of Newson, who was arrested 12:30 p.m. Monday and charged with aggravated arson, risking widespread injury and criminal mischief.
Fire Department arson investigators said that on Nov. 13 Newson tried to torch the three-story building on Westside Avenue at Montgomery Street while 10 people sat in the first-floor bar.
The candle ignited the gasoline, which erupted in flames, but with the windows shut, the oxygen in the room was quickly consumed and the fire died, Roman said.
Newson apparently wasn't paying her share of the rent and prior to setting the fire her roommate told her to hit the road, Roman said. The roommate went to a friend's home and left Newson to pack up and move, Roman said. But Newson instead tried to burn down the building, he said.
When she left the apartment, Newson went to where her roommate was staying and another argument broke out in front of witnesses, Roman said.
At some point Newson said something to the effect of, "Don't worry about it. It's over because your apartment is on fire," Roman said. That's when the roommate rushed home to find the smell of gas and fire, he said.
Arson unit Capt. Joseph Menendez and Investigator Dexter Smith tracked down Newson at the Social Security office on Kennedy Boulevard knowing she would show up there, Roman said.
When Menendez spotted someone fitting her description, he yelled: "'Hey Sash! How you doing?'"
Roman said she responded, "Where do you know me from?" That's when the investigators grabbed her.
Newson was in prison from April 27, 1990, to Nov. 25, 1991, for aggravated assault, receiving stolen property and escaping, state corrections officials said.
Posted on: 2008/11/26 8:21
|