Seton Hall Dorm Fire-Arson & Murder Charges!

[NJFFSA16]

News Conference to be held today, June 12th

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - More than three years after a deadly fire
swept through the lounge of a Seton Hall University dormitory, two
men who were freshmen at the time have been charged with arson and
murder.
Both have denied any role in the blaze, which killed three
students and injured more than 50 others.
Sean Ryan, 22, who still attends the school, and Joseph LePore,
22, now a senior at the University of Delaware, were arrested
Wednesday after an Essex County grand jury indicted them on more
than 60 counts in connection with the Jan. 19, 2000, fire at Boland
Hall. They were jailed on $2 million bail and scheduled to appear
in court Thursday, their attorneys said.
Acting County Prosecutor Donald Campolo scheduled a news
conference Thursday where he planned to announce the indictments of
several other people accused of obstructing or hindering the
investigation.
Prosecutors believe the blaze began when a homemade paper banner
left draped over a couch in the dorm's third-floor lounge was
ignited.
The fire was discovered about 4:30 a.m. As smoke poured into the
halls, scared students in pajamas grabbed coats or blankets and
fled into bitter pre-dawn cold. One leaped from a window of the
six-story hall.
Students Frank Caltabilota of West Long Branch, John Giunta of
Vineland and Aaron Karol of Green Brook died in the fire. Two of
the men were found in the lounge and the other was in a nearby
room.
The 48-year-old building did not have sprinklers because it was
built before they were required. The university has since installed
them, and the state created a new law requiring all dorm rooms in
New Jersey to have sprinklers by 2004.
The grand jury that handed up the indictment spent nearly two
years hearing from dozens of students who lived at the dormitory.
They also heard from state police detectives who took statements
from students early in the investigation, as well as firefighters
and rescue workers.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Pay attention to this case. We are going to go to school on the right way to conduct a fire investigation. These guys worked long and hard on this case. They are the best. Congrats.

[Just a new name]

George, who did the main investigation? I read in one paper it was the essex county arson squad. Now I am seeing the state police. How does this work? With the death in a school would the ATF get involved. I can't imagine the hard work they all must of put in. Great job.

[Just a new name]

Also George, I thought that New Jersey does not use the felony term. So what degree of murder will they be facing? Or is it going to be manslaughter?

[NJFFSA16]

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Thanking victims and family members for
their patience during an "extraordinarily complex" investigation,
prosecutors Thursday announced charges against two students in the
Seton Hall University dorm fire that killed three students more
than three years ago.
Joseph T. LePore, 22, of Florham Park, and Sean Ryan, 22, of
Livingston, were arrested Wednesday on charges of felony murder,
arson, aggravated assault and conspiring in a coverup. The men were
residents of Boland Hall, the dormitory where the fire broke out
Jan. 19, 2000.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Donald Campolo said LePore and
Ryan used matches or a lighter to ignite a paper poster that had
been torn down and placed on a couch made of highly flammable foam
material.
The indictments were handed up by a special grand jury Wednesday
and in September but sealed until Thursday morning, Campolo said. A
deadline for ending the grand jury's investigation had been
extended several times.
LePore and Ryan were jailed on $2 million bail each. An
arraignment had not been scheduled.
Campolo said Ryan was arrested without incident after walking
out of a tanning salon in East Hanover. LePore was arrested outside
an apartment complex in Florham Park, after he backed his car into
an officer's vehicle while trying to flee when officers approached,
the prosecutor said. He said LePore faces additional charges in
Morris County for the incident.
Ryan was still enrolled at Seton Hall, but was suspended
Thursday upon his indictment, said Robina Schepp, a university
spokeswoman.
LePore left the university after spring term 2000, Schepp said.
Neil Thomas, a spokesman for the University of Delaware, would say
only that LePore was enrolled there.
Ryan's lawyer, Michael S. Bubb, said his client "didn't do
it."
"Sean, shortly after this fire, was interviewed extensively, by
the police both from the state police arson squad, the Essex County
arson squad," Bubb said. "He denied culpability, has consistently
denied culpability, and continues to deny culpability."
LePore's lawyer, William J. DeMarco, did not return calls.
There had been rumors on campus soon after the fire that LePore
and Ryan were involved, according to lawyers for some of the
victims' families.
"They always had the feeling that it was a deliberate act,"
said Michael Testa, a lawyer for the parents of John Guinta, one of
three freshmen who died.
Shawn Simons, who was badly burned and spent two months in a
coma after the fire, said he was relieved.
"It's definitely a sense of relief after 3 1/2 years," he
said. "It actually brings a little bit of closure to the whole
case."
The indictments also charged LePore's father, Joseph E. LePore,
58; his mother, Maria LePore, 55; and his sister Lauren, 24, with
obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension and conspiracy.
Lauren LePore is also charged with perjury.
Salvatore Alfano, a lawyer for Joseph E. LePore, denied the
charges against both father and son.
"In my view, this is nothing more than a prosecutor who yielded
to public and political pressure to bring charges after three years
of an investigation that went nowhere," Alfano said.
Another student, Santino Cataldo, 21, of East Hanover, is
charged with witness tampering, obstruction and conspiracy. Cataldo
is accused of meeting with Ryan and LePore two days after the fire,
then lying to investigators about their involvement. He has also
been suspended.
The 2000 fire started at about 4:30 a.m. from a third-floor
lounge of Boland Hall, home to 600 freshman at the South Orange
campus. Killed were freshmen Frank Caltabilota of West Long Branch,
John Giunta of Vineland and Aaron Karol of Green Brook, all 18.
More than 50 others were injured, some critically.
As the smoke poured into the halls, scared students in pajamas
grabbed coats or blankets and fled into bitter cold. One leaped
from a window of the six-story dorm.
The 48-year-old building did not have sprinklers because it was
built before they were required. The university has since installed
them, and the state enacted a new law requiring all dorm rooms in
New Jersey to have sprinklers by 2004.
State fire inspectors found numerous fire code violations at the
dormitory following the blaze, but the university was found not to
have had any criminal liability in the case, said Jeffrey
Cartwright, an assistant Essex County prosecutor who heads the
county arson squad.
Campolo said no single piece of evidence broke the case for
authorities, noting that investigators interviewed hundreds of the
dorm's residents, recreated the fire and conducted an undercover
investigation.
"The crime scene was literally consumed by fire. Add to this
the fact that certain individuals engaged in a coverup from day
one," Campolo said.
The special grand jury also issued a recommendation that the
state adopt flammability standards for furniture used in public and
private settings.
State Community Affairs Commissioner Susan Bass Levin said she
would work with legislators to adopt such standards.
The indictment also charged Rivano Andika, 29, of Jersey City
with terroristic threats. Authorities said that a day after the
fire, Andika sent an e-mail to Seton Hall that read, "Warning: We
will do it again targeting WASPS and their spoiled children who go
to schools that overcharge." Andika is not charged with having any
role in the fire.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Seton Hall- The timeline of events

At about 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2000, a fire started in a third
floor lounge of Boland Hall, a dorm at Seton Hall University. Three
students died in the blaze and more than 50 were injured.
The tragedy led to dozens of lawsuits, out-of-court settlements
and legislative action:
-Jan. 20, 2000: Seton Hall officials receive an e-mail
threatening another, more deadly fire.
-Feb. 3, 2000: State inspectors find fire code violations at
Boland Hall and take over annual inspections at Seton Hall from the
South Orange Fire Department.
-July 5, 2000: Gov. Christie Whitman signs a law requiring all
college and residential high school dorms in New Jersey to be
outfitted with sprinkler systems within four years. By the start of
the school year last fall, about three-quarters of the state's dorm
beds were protected by sprinklers, according to a state report.
-July 2000: The federal government fines Seton Hall $12,600 for
failing to have a fire plan in place to protect its employees.
-August 2000: Resident assistants at the university undergo
intensive fire prevention training, including spending a day at the
Middlesex County Fire Academy.
-Jan. 18, 2002: Fire survivors and families of the three killed
file lawsuits claiming security companies, manufacturers of dorm
furnishings, the Village of South Orange and whoever started the
fire should bear responsibility for it. By then, Seton Hall had
agreed to out-of-court settlements with nearly 20 fire victims or
their families.
-May 12, 2003: The three students who died in the fire - Frank
Caltabilota, John Giunta and Aaron Karol - are awarded posthumous
degrees during their class' somber graduation ceremony.
-June 11, 2003: Joseph E. LePore, 21, of Florham Park, and Sean
Ryan, 21, of Livingston, arrested on charges of felony murder,
arson and aggravated assault.
-June 12, 2003: Prosecutors unseal an indictment charging
LePore, along with members of his family and another student with
obstruction of justice. Another man, Rivano Andika, of Jersey City,
was indicted on charges of making terroristic threats to Seton Hall
the day after the fire.


(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

This investigation was essentially conducted by two agencies. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office Arson Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Newark Field Office. The NJSP assisted in the early stages of the investigation, but they were not the lead agency. The "cop" stuff was all done by ECPO. They are just about the best and did an absolutely incredible job in this invest. You guys have no idea how hard this invest. was.

Felony murder is the generic name for this statute:

2C:11-3. Murder.

a.Except as provided in N.J.S.2C:11-4, criminal homicide constitutes murder when:

(1)The actor purposely causes death or serious bodily injury resulting in death; or

(2)The actor knowingly causes death or serious bodily injury resulting in death; or

(3)It is committed when the actor, acting either alone or with one or more other persons, is engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit robbery, sexual assault, arson, burglary, kidnapping, carjacking, criminal escape or terrorism pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2002, c.26 (C.2C:38-2), and in the course of such crime or of immediate flight therefrom, any person causes the death of a person other than one of the participants;

It is a crime of the first degree. That means "Bye-bye Mommy, see you in about 20 years".

The neat thing about this statute is that the death does not have to occur purposely. The charge is used when the death is the direct result of criminal conduct. For example, we used it one time when a security guard had a fatal heart attack when he was fighting a fire that had been set at a health care facility. Another jurisdiction used it when a police officer was killed responding to a false 911 call.

[NJFFSA16]

Arraignment July 30th

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Two men charged with setting a dorm fire
that killed three Seton Hall University students in 2000 are among
seven defendants in the case who will be arraigned in state court
Wednesday.
Joseph T. LePore and Sean Ryan, who were students at Seton Hall
at the time of the fire, have said they are innocent of charges
including felony murder and arson. The men, both 22, are free on
bail.
Also scheduled to be arraigned before Superior Court Judge
Harold W. Fullilove are Lepore's sister, Lauren, and parents,
Joseph E. and Maria LePore, who were charged with conspiracy.
Santino Cataldo of East Hanover, a classmate of LePore and Ryan,
was charged with witness tampering. Rivano Andika of Jersey City
was charged with making a terroristic threat against the school
after the fire.
The charges were laid out in a 62-count indictment unsealed June
12 after an investigation led by the Essex County Prosecutor's
Office.
The fire on Jan. 19, 2000, started at 4:30 a.m. in a third-floor
lounge of Boland Hall, home to 600 freshman at the South Orange
campus. The blaze killed 19-year-old freshmen Frank Caltabilota of
West Long Branch, John Giunta of Vineland and Aaron Karol of Green
Brook.
More than 50 others were injured.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Two students charged with setting the deadly
Seton Hall University dormitory fire pleaded innocent Wednesday and
were allowed to remain free on bail.
Three other defendants, including the mother and sister of one
of the students, also entered innocent pleas and remained free.
Joseph T. LePore and Sean Ryan, both 22, who were students at
Seton Hall at the time of the fire, are charged with felony murder
and arson. LePore is free on $2 million bail, while Ryan is free on
$1.2 million bail.
Also appearing before Superior Court Judge Harold W. Fullilove
were Lepore's sister, Lauren, and his mother, Maria LePore, who
were charged with conspiracy, and Santino Cataldo of East Hanover,
a classmate of LePore and Ryan, who was charged with witness
tampering. Rivano Andika of Jersey City, charged with making a
terroristic threat against the school after the fire, also pleaded
innocent later on Wednesday.
LePore's father, Joseph E. LePore, also charged with witness
tampering, is to be arraigned Thursday.
Among the spectators in the courtroom was Joseph Karol of Green
Brook, whose son, Aaron, was one of three 19-year-old freshmen
killed in the blaze. The other two were Frank Caltabilota of West
Long Branch, and John Giunta of Vineland.
"I wanted to see my son's accused killers up close," he said
after the hearing. "It was difficult, but I have complete faith in
(Essex County Prosecutor Donald) Campolo. I'm confident we will
have justice."
Fullilove scheduled a status conference for Sept. 22.
Outside the court, LePore's lawyer, William DeMarco, denied his
client had anything to do with the fire and again blasted the Essex
County Prosecutor's Office for placing a hidden listening device in
the LePores' Florham Park home.
"It's an attempt to destroy a family," DeMarco said. "It
seems that in New Jersey it's a crime for a family to stay together
and support one another.
"I have some questions about the appropriateness and legality
of it," he said. "It's outrageous. It's nonsense."
Ryan and his attorney, Michael Bubb, left the courthouse without
speaking to reporters.
DeMarco also questioned the three-year lapse between the fire
and the filing of charges.
"It took so long because the case is so weak," he said. "The
pressure was on the prosecutor, and Campolo had to come up with
something. He indicted my client on no more evidence than he had in
January or February of 2000."
Charges against the defendants were laid out in a 62-count
indictment unsealed June 12 after an investigation led by the
prosecutor's office.
The fire on Jan. 19, 2000, started at 4:30 a.m. in a third-floor
lounge of Boland Hall, home to 600 freshmen at the South Orange
campus. In addition to the deaths, more than 50 students were
injured.


(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[ThNozzleman]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/927882/posts
Some interesting reading on this tragedy. One poster's comment really caught my attention:

"You know, if it had been a warehouse full of boom boxes, Studebaker parts or turnips the state would have required the building to have a sprinkler system."

Hmmmm...

[NJFFSA16]

Update

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A prosecutor suggested that two former Seton
Hall students set the deadly dormitory fire that killed three
people to settle a grudge against a supervisor on their floor,
according to a published report.
The Star-Ledger of Newark, citing transcripts of a grand jury
investigation it was able to review, reported in Thursday's
editions that Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Norman Menz,
speaking during his summation of the evidence on June 5, told the
grand jurors that Sean Ryan and Joseph T. LePore had a history of
playing pranks against Seton Hall student Dan Nugent. He was a
resident assistant on Boland Hall's third floor.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 19, 2000, Menz said, Nugent
repeatedly complained to Ryan and LePore, then freshmen, for making
too much noise. The final confrontation took place about 4 a.m.,
when Nugent called the pair's room, the prosecutor said. Within 30
minutes, the fire was raging in the third-floor lounge.
In addition to the three students killed in the blaze, 58 others
were injured.
In his closed-door summation, Menz acknowledged the absence of
eyewitnesses and direct physical evidence in the case, but said the
altercations "could lead one to the conclusion that Joseph T.
LePore and Sean Ryan had motives to get back at Dan Nugent, who was
trying to sleep, by setting Nugent's bulletin board decorations on
fire and pounding on his door."
Shortly afterward, the grand jury indicted Ryan and LePore on
charges of arson, reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault and
felony murder. Both men, now 22, have pleaded not guilty to the
charges and are free on bail.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Donald Campolo has refused to
discuss a possible motive for the fire.
But defense lawyers who have reviewed the grand jury testimony
say no witnesses testified to support Menz's conclusions.
One key witness, for instance, testified that LePore's parents,
Joseph E. LePore and Maria LePore, confided in him just months
after the fire that their son had been involved but that the blaze
had been accidental.
The witness, Daniel "Bobo" Ricciardi, said the parents told
him that Ryan and LePore, after a night of heavy drinking, were
playing with lighter fluid in a "prank that went bad."
"He said they were fooling around, you know, you put it in your
mouth, spit it out and it puts out a flame," Ricciardi said
LePore's father told him in May 2000. Maria LePore made similar
comments in an earlier conversation, Ricciardi testified.
Ricciardi, a former mobster who has previously worked as an
informant for the federal government, is the younger brother of
Thomas Ricciardi, a Mafia hit man who has admitted a role in nine
murders.
In return for information provided by his brother, Thomas
Ricciardi cut a deal with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office,
shaving a year off a 10-year prison term in exchange for his help
in the Seton Hall probe. He was released Sept. 6, 2001, and is in
the Witness Protection Program.
Based largely on Daniel Ricciardi's contention that LePore's
parents implicated their son, Essex County prosecutors obtained a
court order allowing them to plant listening devices in the LePore
family's Florham Park home in the summer of 2001. Wiretaps also
were placed on the LePores' home phone and on Maria LePore's cell
phone.
Conversations recorded by those listening devices, in turn,
helped form the basis for an obstruction of justice indictment
brought against LePore, his parents and his sister, 24-year-old
Lauren LePore. Ryan and a longtime friend, Seton Hall student
Santino "Tino" Cataldo, also are charged with obstructing the
probe.
Defense lawyers call Ricciardi an opportunistic liar who
fabricated the conversations to help his brother arrange an early
release from prison.
"I think what happened here was that he accidentally found out
from his girlfriend, who was working with Mrs. LePore, that
prosecutors were interested in her son, and that was his opening,"
William DeMarco, who represents the younger Joseph LePore, told The
Star-Ledger. "He says he knew Mr. LePore for years, but he didn't
know Mr. LePore from a hole in the wall.
"If anything, this demonstrates the complete and utter
desperation of prosecutors in lowering themselves and bending to
use Bobo Ricciardi," DeMarco told the newspaper.
In his summation, Menz, the chief assistant prosecutor, stressed
what he called the antagonism between the defendants and Nugent,
one of two resident assistants on Boland Hall's third floor.
"The entire history of the relationship of Sean Ryan and Joseph
T. LePore and Nugent suggests he was constantly the butt of their
pranks," Menz said. Nugent once cited the pair for suspicion of
marijuana use in their room.
John Grogan, one of two lawyers representing Ryan, dismissed the
prosecution's revenge theory, telling the newspaper that even
Nugent did not mention any long-standing feud in his testimony.


(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Update

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Jury selection at the Seton Hall dorm fire
is scheduled to begin on September 22nd.
Two former students are accused of setting the blaze that killed
three students in 2000.
Sean Ryan and Joseph LePore are charged with felony murder,
arson and reckless manslaughter.
The 25-year-olds also face five charges of aggravated assault
for the five people critically injured in the blaze.
Prosecutors allege the dorm fire started after the roommates
ignited a banner left on a couch.


(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Update 9/7/06

Seton Hall fire defendant's statements to be allowed at trial
By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Statements by one of two former students
charged with setting the deadly Seton Hall dorm fire six years ago
in which he asserted he is "no rat" will be allowed at his trial,
as will details of his attempt to escape from authorities as they
tried to arrest him, a judge ruled Thursday.
Superior Court Judge Harold Fullilove ruled that Joseph T.
LePore's statements were made voluntarily, and that he did not have
to be read his Miranda rights before being questioned because he
was not in custody.
LePore and Sean Ryan, both 25, are charged with felony murder,
arson and reckless manslaughter in the Jan. 19, 2000 blaze that
killed three students and injured 58 others. Prosecutors allege the
dorm fire started after the two roommates ignited a banner left on
a couch.
At issue were statements LePore made to investigators shortly
afterward in which he said he did not know who set the fire at
Boland Hall. When asked hypothetically whether, if he did know who
did it, he would provide that information to authorities, LePore
replied, "I'm no rat."
After an assistant Essex County prosecutor told police officers
that LePore had hired an attorney and that questioning should stop,
LePore said while on his way out of the interrogation room, "I'd
love to talk to you, but my mother says I can't."
Maria LePore is charged with obstruction.
The judge ruled that LePore and Ryan voluntarily appeared for
the interviews "as did many other students."
Fullilove said that LePore, who was driven to police
headquarters in an unmarked car by plainclothes officers, was not
searched or asked to surrender personal property, was not placed
under arrest and was free to leave.
"We are very pleased with the judge's decision," said Paul
Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
"We look forward to a full presentation of all the facts."
Lawyers for the two defendants did not immediately return calls
seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
They had argued that testimony of various law enforcement
officers was fabricated, either before the grand jury that indicted
the defendants or at some other time, an assertion Fullilove
rejected.
The judge also ruled that the statements, which in and of
themselves might not be enough to prove anything, when combined
with other evidence and testimony during a trial could prove
relevant.
Defense lawyers had also sought to keep a jury from hearing
about the circumstances of LePore's arrest in June 2003, including
how he tried to escape from officers. LePore was charged with
assault after a collision with a law enforcement vehicle.
The judge ruled that it should be up to the jury to decide if
LePore's flight was evidence of consciousness of guilt.
Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 22.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

Jury selection starts

Jury selection starts in N.J. for trial in Seton Hall dorm fire
that killed 3 freshmen

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Nearly seven years after a dorm fire killed
three freshmen at Seton Hall University, the trial of two former
college roommates charged with murder and arson in the blaze began
Monday with jury selection.
Sean Ryan and Joseph T. LePore could each face at least 30 years
in prison if convicted of murder. Both deny setting the fire.
Superior Court Judge Harold W. Fullilove has said the trial
could last six to eight weeks.
The fire started early on the morning of Jan. 19, 2000, in a
third-floor lounge in Boland Hall, a freshman dormitory on the
private school's South Orange campus.
Prosecutors say Ryan and LePore, who were roommates in the dorm,
set fire to a banner, which ignited a couch and poured dense smoke
through the dormitory.
The fire injured 58 people and killed Frank Caltabilota, of West
Long Branch, John Giunta, of Vineland, and Aaron Karol, of Green
Brook, all 18.
Ryan and LePore, both now 26 and free on bail, face 14 counts,
including three murder charges and five charges of aggravated
assault for the five people critically injured.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[emsff32515]

Its been so long....a job well done to the investigators!