From Press of AC staff reports | Posted: Monday, January 25, 2010
SEA ISLE CITY – A 49-year-old city man has been charged with two counts of arson in connection with two fires last week.
The Jan. 18 fires damaged a public restroom at 40th Street and the Promenade and destroyed a wooden shed on 36th Street and Pleasure Avenue, Sea Isle City police said.
The shed fire spread to the adjacent north tower of Spinnaker condominiums and caused significant damage to the exterior, police said. The nine-story beachfront condo complex remains open. There were no injuries in either fire, although people were staying at the Spinnaker at the time, police said.
On Saturday, police charged William J. Simpson with second-degree aggravated arson in connection with the Spinnaker fire, police said. He was lodged in Cape May County jail on $75,000 cash bail.
Simpson earlier had been charged with third-degree arson in connection with the bathroom fire and lodged in the county jail on $35,000 cash bail, police said. Further investigation connected him to the Spinnaker fire as well, police said.
The county Fire Marshal’s Office, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department assisted in the investigation.