Cliffside Park Mother Arrested, Charged with Arson and Child Endangerment.
Story By Mary Miraglia
CLIFFSIDE PARK. N.J. (April 18, 2017) — A Cliffside Park mother who left the scene of her burning apartment with her two children has been arrested and charged with arson and child endangerment after investigation revealed the first was deliberately started.
Laila Abualia of 238 Day Ave., Apt. 3 is charged with second degree aggravated arson and two second degree counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She appeared in Central Judicial Court Wednesday, April 19 where a judge ruled she would be held in the Bergen County Jail pending an appearance Monday, April 24 in front of Judge Edward A. Jerejian. Jerejian will rule on a prosecutor’s motion to hold Abualia without bail.
The investigation was started after the Cliffside Park Fire Department responded to a call of a fire in an 11-unit apartment building on Day Ave on Tuesday, April 18. Firefighters pinpointed the source of the fire as Apt. 3, which is Abualia’s apartment.
The building superintendent was on the scene and told investigators Abualia lived there with Imad Awawda and their two children, ages three and five. He also said Abualia had been leaving the building in a taxi as he arrived at the scene of the fire.
He stopped the cab and Abualia from leaving. After turning over her keys and answering questions from the super, she left in the cab with her children. Police and fire responded and were able to extinguish the fire and declare it under control. The prosecutor’s Arson Squad and Arson Task Force were notified, responded, and investigated to determine the cause and origin of the fire, which they were able to determine had been started in two separate areas of the apartment, the bedroom and the living room, and was caused by an outside heat source which ignited bedding and furniture.
The arrest was the result of a joint investigation conducted by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Arson Squad directed by Chief Robert Anzilotti, the Cliffside Park Police Department under Chief Richard Gaito and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department Criminal Investigation Bureau under the direction of Sheriff Michael Saudino.
