NYPD investigating East Meadow house fire, placing lieutenant who owns home on modified duty

The NYPD is investigating a fire that destroyed a two-story home in East Meadow on Friday, placing the homeowner, a 20-year NYPD veteran, on modified duty.

Property records show NYPD Lt. Javier Rodriguez owns the home on Maitland Street with his wife, Tanya. The house caught fire shortly before midnight, causing "heavy" damage, but no one was home at the time, according to the East Meadow Fire Department.

About 60 firefighters from East Meadow, North Bellmore, Wantagh and North Merrick responded to the scene. They extinguished the fire in about 45 minutes, Newsday previously reported.

"We are still investigating the exact cause of the fire and the events leading up to the fire," Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro wrote in a statement to Newsday. "As an active investigation, we have not ruled out a suspicious cause of the fire." 

Rodriguez joined the NYPD in 2005 and was a lieutenant detective commander in the NYPD's violent gang task force, according to police records. 

"The incident is under internal investigation," an NYPD spokesperson wrote in a statement to Newsday, adding that the department had placed Rodriguez on modified duty.

A spokesperson for the Nassau police department said on Saturday the fire appeared to be noncriminal. But on Monday, the department revised its statement to say the cause of the fire was "undetermined." 

Newsday's attempts to reach Rodriguez and his wife were unsuccessful.