Fire Marshals Nab Two in Connection with Robbery, Fire at Brooklyn Target Store

Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes explains the video showing Jared Devonish and Neftatarah Meyerdierks starting a fire at a Brooklyn Target store to distract employees as they stole eight flat-screen televisions.

FDNY fire marshals used video surveillance footage and some good detective work to capture a Brooklyn couple on June 12, charging them with setting a fire at a Brooklyn Target store to distract employees as they stole eight flat-screen televisions.

“This is a typical distraction fire, used to divert the attention of the public,” Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes said during a press conference at FDNY Headquarters on June 17. “The fire marshals involved with this case did an excellent job with their investigation, leading to the arrest of these two individuals.”

Jared Devonish, 26, snuck into the stock room of a Target store on Gateway Drive at around 9:15 p.m. on June 11, a store from which he had recently been fired for chronic absences.

With the hood of a red sweatshirt pulled tightly over his head, he hid behind a few freezer units and waited for his girlfriend, Neftatarah Meyerdierks, 25, to arrive for her overnight cleaning and restocking shift at 11 p.m. When she arrived, she tossed him a bottle of water and strategically placed a flatbed cart in the stock area.

When the overnight crew of 56 people went on break at around 2 a.m., he loaded eight flat-screen televisions onto the cart, rolled it to a back exit and started a fire in an aisle of paper towels to cause a distraction as he pushed the merchandise out the door.

Surveillance cameras in the Target store stock room show Jared Devonish loading the televisions onto a cart.

What the couple may not have realized was that the entire incident was caught on surveillance video and FDNY fire marshals were able to identify Ms. Meyerdierks on the tape as a person of interest.

When they arrived at her home, they found Mr. Devonish and four of the eight televisions. Both individuals were placed under arrest transported to the NYPD’s 75th Precinct, where they confessed to the crime.

The televisions were worth approximately $8,000, and damage caused by the fire is estimated to be several hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Devonish is charged with arson in the second degree, grand larceny, burglary, criminal mischief, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal trespassing. Ms. Meyerdierks is charged first degree reckless endangerment, grand larceny, criminal mischief, criminal possession of stolen property and petty larceny.

The Kings County District Attorney's office is prosecuting the case.