David M. Browne, 55, of Wyckoff, set a fire in the detached garage of his home on Oct. 13, 2015, authorities have said.
HACKENSACK -- The former Randolph Schools superintendent who was accused of intentionally setting a fire in his garage last year was recently accepted into a pre-trial intervention program, authorities said.
David M. Browne, 55, was charged with arson after allegedly setting a fire in the detached garage of his Wyckoff home on Oct. 13, 2015.
Browne was accepted into the pre-trial intervention program on Sept. 29 for a term of 24 months, a spokeswoman for the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Friday.
Pre-trial intervention is a rehabilitative program generally reserved for first-time, non-violent offenders. After successful completion of the program, charges are dismissed and there is no record of a conviction.
As part of his pre-trial intervention program, he must continue "his outpatient psychiatric or psychological and abide by all treatment recommendations."
Browne, who had taken a medical leave from his job weeks earlier, was found by emergency crews outside of the garage suffering from burns and was hospitalized for extended period after the fire.
He was placed on an administrative leave by the school board a few hours after the fire, but school officials declined to indicate the reason. Two weeks later, he resigned from his position, accepting a $62,350 payout from the school district.
A video posted on YouTube after the fire showing firefighters responding to the blaze allegedly included first responders discussing slash marks found on his wrists. The video has since been removed.
Neither Browne nor school officials have publicly stated what caused his downfall.
Browne's attorney, Craig Swenson, later said the superintendent's resignation was linked to the breach of the dating website Ashley Madison, which caters to people looking to have affairs while married or in a committed relationship.
"He did have an account -- that he did not act upon," Swenson previously told NJ Advance Media. "He did access Ashley Madison with a school device and that's what led to his resignation."
Browne told school officials and his wife he had an Ashley Madison account shortly after his name was among those released when the website was hacked in August 2015, Swenson said.
Swenson said Browne didn't use the site to date anyone, but he used a computer device issued by the school district to access the Ashley Madison account during his personal time off school district property.
A NJ Advance Media analysis of the hacked Ashley Madison data shows credit card charges made to a Visa account registered to David M. Browne at the same Wyckoff Avenue address where the superintendent lived.
The Ashley Madison credit card charges began in March 2013 and continued through at least November 2014, according to the NJ Advance Media analysis of the data.
While signing up for an Ashley Madison account is free, users can pay for a host of services, not all of which are tied directly to meeting someone. Those services range from an apparently unfulfilled promise by the company to erase all traces of a user's activity on the site, to credits used to talk with other users via video.
A message placed with Browne's attorney Friday afternoon has not yet been returned.
Prior reporting by Kelly Heyboer, Stephen Stirling and Ben Horowitz was used in this article.
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.