By Sue Epstein/The Star-Ledger
NEW BRUNSWICK — The Edison police officer charged with attempted murder for allegedly torching his captain’s home last month started the fire by lighting a pair of gasoline-filled water jugs on the front porch, a prosecutor said in court Friday.
The detail emerged during a bail hearing in which Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Mannion laid out some of the state’s evidence against Officer Michael Dotro, a 10-year veteran who authorities say was angry about a recent transfer and a forced psychological evaluation.
Dotro, Mannion said, used blue shop rags as wicks for the home-made firebombs.
An identical blue shop rag with an odor of gasoline was found in Dotro’s pickup truck when investigators executed search warrants at his Manalapan home May 23, the day of the officer’s arrest. Additional rags matching the wicks were found in Dotro’s garage, Mannion said.
The searches provided a trove of potential evidence in the case against Dotro, 35, who is charged with aggravated arson and five counts of attempted murder in the May 20 fire in Monroe Township.
Capt. Mark Anderko, his wife, his two children and his 92-year-old mother escaped without injury.
Found on the front steps of Anderko’s home, Mannion said, was a bath towel. An identical bath towel was found in Dotro’s house.
Investigators also found 1-gallon water jugs — like the ones used in the blaze — in Dotro’s laundry room and shed, the prosecutor said.
The fire was reported at 3:50 a.m. Some time before, Dotro’s pickup truck was recorded by a surveillance camera at a Manalapan Quick Chek, Mannion told Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz in New Brunswick. At the time, Dotro was driving in the direction of Anderko’s house.
About two weeks earlier, a surveillance camera at the same store recorded Dotro buying gas, Mannion said.
Finally, Mannion said Dotro and his wife exchanged text messages about an hour before the fire, proving the officer was "up and about" at the time.
Ferencz, having signed warrants in the case, said in court there was additional evidence not presented Friday.
"I am left with the analysis so far that there is significant likelihood, given the state’s offer, of conviction," he said.
Dotro had been held on $5 million cash bail, one of the highest bonds in Middlesex County history. Ferencz agreed to lower the bail to $2 million cash. Dotro remains behind bars.
Defense attorney Lawrence Bitterman sought $500,000 bail, arguing Dotro had no reason to flee and that "monetary conditions should not be used as punishment" or "be the result of a public outcry."
Lowering bail to $2 million, Bitterman contended, was akin to "no bail reduction."
Dotro wore green jail garb and sat next to the defense lawyer. His wife sat in the first row of observer seats behind him, flanked by several Edison police officers in plainclothes.
The Star-Ledger has previously reported that Dotro was angry at Anderko after the captain moved him from the night shift to days and ordered him to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation with a psychologist. That assessment, sparked by Dotro’s 11th excessive force complaint in a decade, took place four days before the fire.
In court Friday, Mannion said the transfer was "something he was not happy about." The prosecutor said Anderko also told Dotro he would be getting a "performance enhancement," a form of remedial training.
Anderko frequently handles discipline on the force. Dotro’s feelings about him were made clear shortly after the fire, Mannion said, when the president of the police union sent out an email to the executive board — on which Dotro sits — asking for contributions toward a $5,000 donation.
Mannion said Dotro responded, "Nope. That guy’s been messing with us for years and I won’t give him a dime."
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