A Bucks County man, out on bail in an arson case, was arrested after a cache of meth and guns was found in his home
Charles Vandenberg was out on bail for an August 2025 arson when officers discovered 20 guns and a pound of methamphetamine inside his home, police said Tuesday.
A Bristol Township man oversaw a wide network of drug- and gun-distribution, police said Tuesday, pushing methamphetamine throughout Bucks County.
Charles Vandenberg, 51, was arrested Nov. 4 and charged with a litany of felony drug and gun crimes, according to Bensalem Public Safety Director William McVey.
Investigators recovered 20 guns from Vandenberg’s home on Maryland Avenue in Croydon, including a handgun with an obliterated serial number, McVey said. Officers also found a pound of methamphetamine and body armor in the home.
“They truly made Bucks County safer,” he said. “Twenty weapons will never be on the street, and they saved lives by their actions.”
Vandenberg was not able to legally possess guns due to convictions for drug possession, court records show.
He already was under scrutiny by law enforcement: Last summer, he was charged with arson, conspiracy, and related crimes for allegedly recruiting another person to set fire to a van as part of a plot to rob the vehicle’s owners.
The investigation into Vandenberg’s drug distribution began in July, when, during a street-level drug arrest, Bensalem Police learned that Vandenberg was distributing methamphetamine in the area, McVey said.
While serving a search warrant on Vandenberg’s home last week, detectives discovered the guns, drugs and materials used to package them, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
In an interview with detectives, Vandenberg admitted that the items were his, the affidavit said.
Vandenberg remained in custody Tuesday, denied bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said his office had pushed a district judge to withhold Vandenberg’s bail as part of a new policy for suspects deemed dangerous to the public.
“It really ought to be the case that if you’re a danger to the community, that you shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of trouble,” Khan said. “Defendants such as Mr. Vandenberg, who are too dangerous to be trusted out in our community, will not be able to make bail no matter how much money they’re able to come up with.”
Before his arrest, Vandenberg was free after posting 10% of $350,000 bail in the August 2025 arson case.
In that incident, police say Vandenberg recruited another man, Gavin Montoya, to rob someone of drugs and set a van on fire outside of the victim’s home on Cedar Avenue in Croydon.
However, the blaze, which Montoya set with a road flare, spread to the home, police said.
Three firefighters who responded were injured while putting it out. Another firefighter, Captain Ed Margavich of the Third District Volunteer Fire Company, later died of complications from an injury — He fell at the station while putting equipment away, breaking his leg.
Vandenberg, Montoya and their accomplice, Thomas Parker, were not charged in connection with Margavich’s death, investigators said.
The arson case is pending in Bucks County Court.
