A Manchester resident who has a propensity to set things on fire has been arrested for allegedly committing such an action in wooded areas across Ocean County.

The fire setting and destruction of wooded area trend began last year, when on May 16, 32-year old Gregory Fullman, Jr., of Manchester set fire to a wooded area in Little Egg Harbor Township and did so again on December 8 of 2021, according to a statement from Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer.

Before he set another fire in Little Egg Harbor, Fullman Jr. torched a wooded area in Manchester on December 1, 2021 and again on December 16.

He actually set two fires in one day on December 1, with the other inferno occurring in Lakewood Township, where he found himself lighting another fire on January 21, 2022.

It was on January 31, that investigators arrested Fullman Jr. after gathering the evidence and doing their due diligence into who started the fires and tying everything together, which led to the identification of the arsonist

For intentionally setting multiple fires in Little Egg Harbor, Lakewood and Manchester between May of 2021 and January of 2022, Fullman, Jr., was charged with twenty-five counts of Aggravated Arson.

Fullman was taken into custody and then brought to the Ocean County Jail, where he remains, pending a detention hearing.

“I extend my sincere appreciation to the many law enforcement agencies that were involved in this very thorough and wide-ranging investigation,” Prosecutor Billhimer said in a statement. “The resolve and determination exhibited by these professionals over the last eight months has resulted in this arrest. I am thankful for their hard work, and grateful that no one was hurt or killed as a result of these fires."

The investigation was conducted through multiple law enforcement agencies, according to Prosecutor Billhimer, starting with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit and, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Unit, as well as Little Egg Harbor Township Police Department, Manchester Township Police Department, Lakewood Township Police Department, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigations Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Field Services Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Administrative Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office, Ocean County Vehicle Services Department, New Jersey State Forest Fire Service, New Jersey State Police Office of Forensic Sciences, New Jersey State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office, Wall Township Police Department, and City of Bridgeton Fire Department Bureau of Fire Prevention K-9 Unit.

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