The native New Jersey man who was busted after he waltzed into Midtown’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral carrying two canisters filled with gas and lighter fluid was hit Thursday with a slew of charges including attempted arson, police said.
Marc Lamparello, 37, of Hasbrouck Heights, was also charged with reckless endangerment, trespassing and slapped with other violations of city codes involving the transport of flammable materials in public places, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterroism John Miller told reporters.
Dressed in all black, Lamparello said nothing to reporters and put his head down as he was walked by two detectives out of the Midtown North Precinct Thursday afternoon and taken to Bellevue Hospital Center for observation.
According to Miller, Lamparello arrived in the area of the iconic Fifth Avenue cathedral at around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and security cameras captured his minivan circling the block.
“He gets into the vehicle, he gets out of the vehicle, but, at 7:55 p.m., he returns to the minivan, he opens the door to the rear, he takes out the two cans of gasoline, the two containers of lighter fluid, and a bag containing the lighters,” Miller said.
Moments later, Lamparello entered the neo-Gothic block-long cathedral between 50th and 51st streets and was quickly approached by an usher who told him he couldn’t bring the gasoline inside.
When Lamparello then put the canisters down, some gas spilled on the floor. He then picked the canisters up and left.
The usher quickly flagged officers from the department’s Critical Response Command who took Lamparello into custody.
Lamparello told police that he was cutting through the church to get to Madison Avenue because his minivan had run out of gas, but authorities say his vehicle was neither where he said it was nor out of fuel.
On Monday night, Lamparello was nabbed by police inside of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark after he refused to leave when the house of worship was closing, officials said.
“Oh no, I’m not leaving. This is the house of God. It should stay open,” Lamparello told police, according to Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.
He threw himself on the floor between two pews and said, “Put cuffs on me and arrest me because I’m not going,” according to Fontoura.
Lamparello resisted arrest and got into an altercation with two deputy sheriffs, police officials said.
Lamparello was then charged with disorderly conduct, defiant trespassing, and obstruction.
Ultimately, Lamparello was released after he was evaluated by medics.
Early Wednesday before heading to the Big Apple, Lamparello booked a flight to Italy for $2,800 that was set to take off at 5:20 p.m. Thursday, Miller said.
Lamparello is a PhD student in philosophy at CUNY’s Graduate Center and recently taught as an adjunct professor at Lehman College in The Bronx.
A Lehman College spokeswoman said Thursday that Lamparello will be terminated as a result of his latest arrest.
Miller also said that Lamparello teaches at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
Additional reporting by Sydney Denmark