Toms River Man Faces Charges for Arson and Hate Crimes

Toms River Man Faces Charges for Arson and Hate Crimes

According to Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, a Toms River man is charged with arson and bias intimidation after he allegedly broke into a house that was under construction, started a fire, and etched antisemitic words into the walls.

After an investigation into a burglary at the building on 12th Avenue, which is thought to have happened three days earlier on March 29, Dalin Brown, 24, of Toms River was taken into custody on Wednesday, April 1.

Officers from the Manchester Township Police Department were called to the construction site at 9:55 a.m. on March 30 in response to a burglary report. They discovered anti-Semitic carvings on the future home's walls and an internal door, as well as an extinguished fire in the living room.

The fire was identified as incendiary by the county fire marshal, the Prosecutor's Office's Major Crime Unit and its Arson Squad, and the Sheriff's Office's Crime Scene Investigations Division. According to Billhimer, those investigators came to the conclusion that "accessible combustibles" were used to purposefully start the fire along the south wall of the living room.

According to the announcement, authorities were able to identify Brown as the perpetrator of the break-in, the arson, and the carving of the vile words using forensic evidence and investigative leads.

Dalin Brown, 24, of Toms River, was charged with Aggravated Arson, Burglary, Bias Intimidation, Criminal Mischief, and Criminal Trespass. He was transported to the Ocean County Jail where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.