A Newark man has been sentenced to eight years in state prison for setting fire to a Boonton commercial warehouse last fall and stealing over $200,000 worth of copper, authorities announced Friday.
Davon Fields, 46, was sentenced by Judge Ralph E. Amirata in Morris County Superior Court following a June 2 guilty plea to aggravated arson, burglary, theft, and criminal mischief. The sentence includes four years of parole ineligibility.
On November 3, 2024, at approximately 8:13 p.m., Boonton Police and Fire departments responded to a two-alarm fire at a warehouse located at 95 Fulton Street. Flames were found in both the main warehouse area and a separately secured section leased by a pharmaceutical supply company.
The Boonton Fire Department, assisted by surrounding mutual aid companies, extinguished the blaze.
Investigators determined the fire had multiple points of origin and was intentionally set, noting a strong petroleum odor and the discovery of a gas canister nozzle. Surveillance footage showed two masked individuals entering the building shortly before the fire started.
Authorities also discovered that copper materials valued at roughly $233,000 had been removed from equipment inside the warehouse. Fields, identified as the warehouse manager, was seen near the building late at night on both November 1 and November 3. He was also recorded selling large amounts of copper at a scrapyard on November 1 and 2.
Fields was arrested and charged on January 13.
