A Pennsylvania man accused of setting fire to his own home to kill spiders was arrested in Manhattan, after being accused of setting another fire in a hotel room in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s office is saying 36-year old Sean McDermott was arrested Wednesday in Times Square, where NYPD officers found 52 canisters of laughing gas in the U-Haul truck he drove. Hotel staff at a Residence Inn in East Rutherford reported the room he was in earlier Wednesday had clothes burning on a stove. Investigators think McDermott drove to New Jersey after setting the fires to his own townhouse unit in the Poconos. He reportedly told a witness he set the blazes in his home to kill spiders. NYPD officers say McDermott had a crack pipe on him when they arrested him.
Monday 6th April 2026
