A New Jersey man who was injured when his apartment caught fire has been charged with arson.
After police were kept out of the scene by heavy smoke, firefighters arrived to the apartment complex on Arctic Avenue in Wildwood on Nov. 22 to find Edmir Pepa, 35, in a unit on the second floor suffering from smoke inhalation. He was airlifted to a regional hospital and treated.
“It was later determined that Pepa was also suffering from self-inflicted lacerations,” Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Wildwood Police Chief Joe Murphy said in a Wednesday press release.
Investigators examined surveillance footage, interviewed witnesses and used search warrants to determine that Pepa allegedly set fire to multiple areas of his own apartment, “putting himself and other tenants inside the multi-dwelling building in danger,” according to authorities.
Pepa was charged with arson and causing widespread injury or damage, officials said on Wednesday. Both are considered second-degree crimes and carry sentences of five to 10 years in state prison.
Pepa voluntarily surrendered to the Wildwood Police Department on Tuesday and remains in custody at the Cape May County Correctional Center.
