The two New Jersey teenagers accused of setting the devastating Jones Road Wildfire that has scorched more than 15,000 acres initially blamed the blaze on Mexicans, according to authorities.
Joseph Kling, 19, and his 17-year-old co-defendant both allegedly lied to cops when they were interviewed about the Ocean Count conflagration, and their potential connection to it.
Ultimately, investigators were able to determine Kling and his unnamed teen accomplice allegedly deliberately set wooden pallets ablaze April 22, then walking away.
Both Kling and the teen “gave misinformation to law enforcement about how the fire started.”
They both blamed the fire on Mexicans they said they’d seen in the woods just before the blaze began, reported the Asbury Park Press.
Both defendants are being held in police custody.
The second teenager was arrested Thursday, and charged with aggravated arson and hindering apprehension.
Kling is charged with aggravated arson, arson, and hindering apprehension.
The Asbury Park Press reported that investigators searched the suspect’s phones, and found chats that “refute the claim that Mexicans started the fire,” prosecutors said in court Friday.
Detectives have interviewed witnesses who named Kling and the other teen as the ones who started the fires.
As off Saturday, the Jones Road Wildfire was almost 80% contained.
An attorney for Kling told a judge Friday his client did not intend to set off a massive forest fire.
