EATONTOWN — A 38-year-old woman was arrested and charged for aggravated arson, violation of a restraining order and harassment after she set fire to a bedroom and bathroom of a Rodman Court home and locked herself in the bathroom, police said.
The charges were lodged against Paula Ann Flanyak of Eatontown after police were called to 229 Rodman Court at 9:38 a.m. March 15 by a family member of the suspect, who reported she had entered the residence in violation of a restraining order.
Police said that when officers arrived on the scene, they found she had locked the doors of the house. She refused to respond to their calls.
While officers were attempting to make contact with Flanyak from outside the house, they detected the smell of smoke and so forced their way into the home, police said. According to police, the officers found that smoke was coming from a second-floor bedroom.
Prior to the arrival of the Eatontown Fire Department, the officers forced their way into the bedroom but were unable to proceed due to heavy smoke and fire, police said. After firefighters suppressed the fire, Sgt. Joseph Miller, Detective Sgt. Thomas Clayton and Patrolman Kenneth Kleinman entered the bedroom and removed the suspect, who was in an attached bathroom. Police said an investigation showed that the suspect had set several fires in the bedroom and connected bathroom before locking herself in the bathroom.
Flanyak was placed under arrest and taken to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch for medical and psychiatric evaluation. She was kept under guard by Eatontown police at the hospital while being evaluated.
Bail on the charges against her was set at $120,000 — with no 10 percent and no release on her own recognizance — by Superior Court Judge Michael Farren.
The K-9 dog in the borough police department played a prominent role in preventing a possible suicide attempt last January.
In that incident, police received a telephone call from her husband at 11:32 p.m. Jan. 17, reporting she had just threatened to kill herself with a knife.
When police arrived, they found the woman was not home, but the couple’s two children were there and were unharmed. Police believed the woman had left on foot, so Patrolman Thomas Ferrugia and his K-9 companion, Xena, were called to the scene. The K-9 team tracked Flanyak’s scent into the Eatontown Arboretum, which borders the home, and found her standing in the woods with a large butcher knife held to her throat, police said.
The officers tackled and disarmed her and took her to Monmouth Medical Center for psychiatric screening. She was not charged with a criminal offense.