Man Accused of Setting Ex-Girlfriend’s Car, House on Fire Headed to Trial

A man accused of sending nude photographs of his ex-girlfriend to hundreds of college students and setting a fire that destroyed several cars and nearly her house in Middletown Township is headed to trial, District Judge John Kelly Jr. ruled.

Angelo Capria, 23, of Chalfont, will face trial in Doylestown court on charges of arson, reckless burning or exploding, stalking, harassment and several related charges. He is currently free on bail.

The victim, Capria’s “on and off” ex-girlfriend, testified that she recognized her ex-boyfriend in surveillance video taken when someone vandalized vehicles in the driveway leading up to the October 21, 2012 arson fire on Teal Drive. She said the unique way he ran helped her identify him in the video.

The young woman’s father came on the stand during the preliminary hearing and also testified that the subject in the nighttime video was Capria. He said he knew because he had seen the 23-year-old run previously on vacations they invited him on and while the young couple engaged in horseplay.

Michael Goodwin, Capria’s attorney, said the two could not be sure it is Capria in the video. He added the two have a “built-in prejudice that [Capria] was the one.”

The judge did state he noticed the subject in the video, who obscured their face with clothing in one of the videos, by the way he ran.

“I did notice that the person in the video does not run like a normal person,” he said.

“This entire case is based on them wanted him to pay for this,” Goodwin told the judge just before the charges were forwarded for trial on Thursday morning.

Detective David Strother Jr. testified that the subject in surveillance video used their left hand to light the wick that started the cars on fire. In court, he noted that Capria was using his left hand to jot down notes.

On Sept. 4, 2011, the Teal Drive family reported the right rear tired of their SUV was punctured and leaking air. A neighbor reported seeing a short white male run from the drive of the Teal Drive home and flee in a green “boxy” vehicle, police said. In court on Thursday, that neighbor said the vehicle appeared to match the dark-colored Kia Soul that Capria owns.

More than a month later, on Oct. 21, 2012, police and fire officials responded to a vehicle fire at the home in the early morning hours. They arrived to find three vehicles on fire  and minor damage to the home, Fire Marshal James McGuire told LevittownNow.com previously. The father of the ex-girlfriend said in court that the damage from the fire, which destroyed two cars and damaged another, has cost over $50,000.

“I saw my Jeep Wrangler exploding in front of my eyes,” the ex-girlfriend said of the fire.

Strother said Penndel Police Chief Joseph Sciscio, a recognized expert in computer forensics, analyzed GPS data obtained from Capria’s devices in November and uncovered he had Teal Drive saved. The map, according to police, was listed as “His Work in Progress.”

According to court filings from earlier this year, several other locations and a photo of a fire were also discovered, police said. Authorities added that Capria had recently visited crime news and government websites relating to police reports several times following the fire.

The ex-girlfriend testified that she believes Capria captured images of her nude during an online chat and later sent them to hundreds of college students at Temple University. Police have said the email was sent in August 2011, shortly after the relationship ended.

“He told me I was going to be popular at Temple,” she testified.

Goodwin said that the ex-girlfriend had no way of knowing that the photos were sent by Capria. The young woman did state that the email they were sent from is not one she is familiar with Capria using.

According to court papers, the relationship started to go south on Dec. 31, 2010. Capria become upset when his girlfriend did not want to spend New Year’s Eve with him because she was at a female friend’s home, police said. In response, Capria drove around looking for his girlfriend, called her over 100 times, left “obscene” voicemails and told her he was going to dump all her belongings outside, according to police.

The ex-girlfriend testified that Capria said he was going to kill himself and leave a note blaming her.

Related:

• Man Set Fire to Car, Sent Ex’s Nude Images to Hundreds, Police Say