By Julie Shaw
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — A 50-year-old Philadelphia man has been convicted of arson for setting his former South Jersey house on fire, authorities said Wednesday.
Bret Henderson was also convicted by a jury Tuesday of the aggravated assault of a volunteer firefighter who was burned while extinguishing the fire, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The jury found that Henderson set fire to the home on Haggas Avenue in the Oak Valley section of Deptford Township on June 14, 2015, two days after his ex-wife was awarded ownership of it in a custody hearing, prosecutors said. He lived in the house at the time.
During the trial, the county fire marshal testified that gasoline had been poured in two locations in the house, prosecutors said. The injured Oak Valley Fire Company firefighter, John Hernisey, testified he suffered a burn on his neck.
Henderson, who is now a resident of Philadelphia, is free on $60,000 bail awaiting sentencing, scheduled for June 30.
The house was ultimately demolished.
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