Newtown Borough Man Faces Arson Charges For State Street Blaze

Newtown PA

06 June, 2022

3:48 PM

Description

NEWTOWN BOROUGH - A Newtown Borough man is facing arson charges for allegedly setting a fire in March that heavily damaged a building in the heart of the South State Street business district. Scott R. Krukowski, 35, was arraigned at midnight on June 3 after being taken into custody on an arrest warrant. He was remanded to Bucks County Prison on $5 million bail (10 percent). A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 11 at 2 p.m. before District Judge Mick Petrucci. Krukowski is charged with arson (reckless endangerment of another person with death or injury), a first degree felony; arson of an occupied structure; a second degree felony; arson and related offenses, a third degree felony; causing a catastrophe, a first degree felony; criminal mischief by fire, a third degree felony; and recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor. Krukowski is accused of setting a fire at 26.5 South State Street that heavily damaged his third floor apartment and caused extensive smoke and water damage to a second floor apartment and to the Pro Shop located on the first floor of the building, authorities said. Just before 1 a.m. on March 24, Newtown Borough Police Officer George Rusinko was on patrol when he noticed smoke in the area of 26 South Main and began to investigate. He drove to the rear of the building where he observed heavy smoke and flames coming from the third floor windows. He summoned firefighters to the scene and assisted with the evacuation of residents from the building and from neighboring structures. Firefighters from seven companies battled the fire for nearly an hour placing it under control at 1:49 p.m. and preventing it from spreading to adjacent buildings in the town's historic business district. Crews remained on the scene for several hours hitting hot spots and conducting mop up operations. The third floor apartment sustained the brunt of the blaze with fire, smoke and water damage while the second floor apartment and first floor retail space sustained smoke and water damage. According to the criminal complaint, investigators found a one gallon gas can in the kitchen of the third floor apartment. A subsequent search of the property by Assistant Philadelphia Fire Marshal Lt. George Werez and K9 Dona, an ATF-certified accelerant detection dog, located four distinctly separate areas of accelerant in the third floor apartment, one being the gas can in the kitchen. After completing a cause and origin investigation, Newtown Emergency Services Fire Marshal Tim Chamberlain determined the fire to be incendiary in nature and classified the fire as arson. Newtown Borough Police spoke with the building owner, the second floor tenant and the first floor tenant, but they were unable to locate or contact Krukowski. During a subsequent investigation, Newtown Borough Police Officer Cpl. Sean Orr learned from family members that Krukowski did not own a car and walks everywhere. Orr visited two gas stations on nearby Sycamore Street that are within walking distance of the building where Krukowski lived. Orr discovered that two days before the fire Krukowski had purchased one gallon of gasoline from one of the Sycamore Street gas stations. The business provided Orr with a copy of the receipt. Krukowski is also shown on video camera at the station talking to the gas station attendant and carrying a one gallon red gas can similar to what was recovered from the fire scene, according to the criminal complaint. Officer Orr said he could not ascertain a legitimate reason as to why Krukowski would purchase one gallon of gasoline on March 21 since he does not own a car, have access to a vehicle, works for a landscaper or have any landscaping equipment. Through his investigation, Orr also found that Krukowski had entered two neighboring businesses on the day before the fire and told them that their fire extinguishers were old and outdated. Orr also learned that Krukowski had been in Princeton in the days following the fire - between March 25 and 31 - and had contact with police there. During those incidents, Krukowski was allegedly reluctant to give personal identifying information to officers. Witnesses and the officer said he looked homeless and was carrying only a duffel bag. When he was offered services, Krukowski refused.