Man charged with arson in connection to NJ wildfire: officials
Officials said 19-year-old Joseph Kling was accused of improperly extinguishing a bonfire that caused the Jones Road Wildfire to spark on Tuesday. Kling, of Waretown, allegedly set wooden pallets on fire and left the area before they were put out, according to officials.
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The wildfire has scorched around 15,000 acres in Ocean County, the Forest Fire Service said in a Facebook post. It was roughly 50% contained as of Wednesday evening.
Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate on Tuesday, but were later allowed to go back to their homes. More than 25,000 customers suffered sweeping power outages on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames, but it was later turned back on, officials said.
Kling is facing charges of aggravated arson and arson, according to officials. He's being held in Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.
This is a developing story. Please refresh the page for updates.
Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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41 minutes ago
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Judge recommends 18 months for woman arrested while on probation for 'animal crushing'
An Indiana woman arrested last month for animal cruelty while on probation in a separate animal torture case should return to prison, a judge ruled on July 29. Krystal Cherika Scott, 24, was the first person charged under a 2019 law that grants the federal government jurisdiction over extreme animal torture cases, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in her case. Her case generated national attention at the time and sparked conversations among millions of viewers on YouTube. At the time, Scott pleaded guilty to one count of animal crushing, which refers to extreme and intentional acts of torture inflicted upon animals, often for the purpose of creating shock films. She was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by five years of probation. After her 2023 release from prison, she was banned from all contact with animals through 2028. But she and two others were cited for animal neglect in Indianapolis on June 21 after authorities found a dozen animals living in squalor in their rented U-Haul van. On June 27, Scott was arrested for violating the terms of her supervised release. While Scott was in custody, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office charged her with felony cruelty to animals on July 2. The two other people in the van face misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. A thorough search of the U-Haul van turned up animal limbs and pelts, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. In her July 29 revocation hearing, Judge Tim Baker wrote that Scott had violated the terms of her supervised release multiple times. She had stopped participating in mental health treatment and failed to notify her probation officer of a change in address. Scott made a Facebook page under the name Teal Serain to "recover lost dogs," according to her probation officer. The judge referenced both the neglect citations and allegations surrounding a dead, mutilated dog recovered from the Fountain Square homeless camp where Scott and her co-defendants used to stay. When Scott was confronted by her probation officer about the video, she claimed "her friend 'put the dog down' because it was aggressive," the judge wrote. A search warrant of the purported burial site recovered black fur, but no other remains, according to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. Both the prosecution and the defense agreed that Scott should spend 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, including 180 days of residential reentry treatment. The judge also proposed amending Scott's supervised release to require random monitoring of her electronic devices. "Given the nature of the violation conduct which involved Ms. Scott acquiring animals via social media, allegedly in an attempt to harm them, this condition will assist the probation officer in monitoring her activities on various social media sites, as well as add a protective measure to the community," the judge wrote. Her defense team waived its right to object to the report. The recommendation for Scott's return to prison awaits a final decision from a district judge.
