Jeffrey Rochon pleads guilty to MDOP, arson charge dropped

Jeffrey Edwin Rochon, 31, of Sumpter Township has pled guilty to malicious destruction of personal property from $1,000 to less than $20,000, and the second-degree arson charge against him was dismissed.
He was bound over to circuit court by 34th District Court Judge Tina Brooks Green on Sept. 16 who signed an order for pretrial services to review his case. Circuit Court Judge Deborah A. Thomas arraigned him on the information Sept. 23 and reduced Rochon’s $500,000 cash bond to $7,500 or 10%.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Thomas on Nov. 4.
Rochon was arrested by Van Buren police for the arson fire that occurred on July 28 at 6040 Victoria in Van Buren Township. It was alleged Rochon burned the residence of the mother of his two children. No one was home at the time of the fire.
The arson charge that was dropped in a plea deal carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or $20,000 or three times the value of the property damaged or destroyed.
The MDOP charge is a five-year felony and carries a fine of up to $10,000 or three times the amount of the property damaged or destroyed.
Rochon was held in the Wayne County Jail from his Aug. 31 arrest to the time the judge reduced his bond on Sept. 23.
VBT Detective Donovan McCarthy is the officer in charge of the case.