A budding social media star who was charged with arson connected with a dumpster fire that police say he set for the sake of a video had his case bound over to Carroll County Superior Court last week.

Kevin Emmerling, 30, of North Conway was arrested on a warrant May 7 and charged with Class B felony arson for allegedly starting a dumpster fire in the driveway of his home on Beechnut Drive early last month.

The dumpster belonged to Great North Woods Container Services, which is based in Berlin.

Emmerling, who was represented by the Public Defender’s Office, was arraigned May 8 and released on personal recognizance bail.

On May 29, Emmerling’s arson case was bound over from Conway Circuit Court to Carroll County Superior Court after Emmerling waived probable cause. He remains free on personal recognizance.

Starting this year, felony cases originate in the state’s circuit courts before going to Superior Court. Under the former system, called Felonies First, felonies would start in Superior Court.

Efforts to contact Emmerling for comment were unsuccessful; however, his father, also named Kevin Emmerling, returned a call from the Sun.

According to the Carroll County Register of Deeds, Kevin and Pamela Emmerling of South Chatham, Mass. — Emmerling’s parents — purchased the home on Sept. 28, 2021. According to Zillow, the sale price was $700,000.

In a phone interview on Monday, Emmerling Sr. confirmed he had purchased the house several years ago. “We thought we would retire there,” he said, “but now we will probably just sell it.”

His son, who his father said works in construction, has been living at the home for several years.

The son’s LinkedIn profile lists his occupation as construction foreman with HomeWorks Energy, Inc. in Massachusetts. It said he has worked at the job from August 2020 to the present.

LinkedIn also says the son has been the owner of Comeback Capital Vacation Rentals in North Conway from August 2021 to the present. “We focus on completely taking care of a property owner’s investment property/properties. Specifically, ensuring the property is marketed, rented, cleaned and kept up to date,” the son’s LinkedIn profile said.

According to court documents, at around 11:30 a.m. on May 3, North Conway fire officials were dispatched to the home at Beechnut Drive, which is in the Birch Hill development off West Side Road, for a report of the fire.

The caller said the fire was 20 feet from his house but even closer to a camper, a trailer and a box truck in the home’s driveway, according to a probable cause statement prepared by Police Chief Chris Mattei.

Mattei in his statement said he learned that Emmerling had posted on Tiktok that he was planning to light a dumpster on fire. TikTok is a popular Chinese-owned short-form video hosting service that can be accessed via a phone app.

North Conway Fire Chief Chad McCarthy, who responded to the fire, told Mattei that Emmerling told him the fire was an accident.

Meanwhile, Mattei found the TikTok video posted by Emmerling under the user name Mr. Comeback.

“In this video, Kevin Emmerling states that he plans on streaming later that day at approximately noontime,” said Mattei. “He states that in this video he will light on fire the 12-foot dumpster located in his driveway. The dumpster contained some old mattresses he’s going to get rid of of,” Mattei said.

“We’re gonna light this whole f--- thing on fire in the middle of my driveway. Thing that’s funny about it is we kind of live in like this ritzy f--- town and there’s tons of cops ... so they’re definitely gonna come and then we’re just gonna get the whole thing on screen,” Emmerling said, according to Mattei, who saved the video.

When Mattei confronted Emmerling at the house, Emmerling said the fire was an accident and he apologized. Mattei said: “I showed him the TikTok video and he claimed he was just joking when he made the video. He stated he would have never intentionally started the fire.”

“Emmerling said he put the coals from his grill in the dumpster and didn’t think they were still hot. His fiancee, Emily Beaudoin, said she had asked Emmerling to make their son a hot dog,” Mattei said.

He said: “Chief McCarthy spoke with the New Hampshire Fire Marshal’s office, but they declined to respond as they did not feel that we required their assistance in the investigation.

“When Kevin Emmerling found out that the Fire Marshal’s Office was being contacted, he kept asking what was going to happen,” Mattei said.

“He continued to claim that this was an accident. As the minutes passed and we remained on scene, Kevin started to tell me that he had just got all of his court issues taken care of, and he did not want to get into any trouble. He offered to do community service to keep from getting in trouble and even offered to wash the fire truck for Chief McCarthy,” Mattei said.

It’s unclear what court issues Emmerling was referring to. The only prior reference to him in the Sun is from Court News from the week of Nov. 17, 2022, which says a bench warrant was issued for Kevin Emmerling, 29, of North Conway for failing to appear in court regarding a charge of driving after revocation or suspension.

Mattei said at the time of the fire Beaudoin was at home with two children and a dog was inside a camper that was about 10 feet from the dumpster.

Mattei also found that Emmerling live-streamed the fire on a platform called Twitch. In the video, Mattei says Emmerling is shown entering the house after the fire department had arrived.

“He tells Emily that he is not in trouble and that he simply told them that he accidentally threw some hot coals in the dumpster. He then tells his son, who is excited about seeing the fire truck, ‘daddy did that for content, sorry.’ Emily asks if he is going to get into trouble and he says that he would only be in trouble if he said he did it on purpose,” Mattei writes in the probable cause statement.

After arresting Emmerling, Mattei conducted an interview with him at the station. Emmerling said he was trying to “light a small fire in the dumpster to get content for his social media feed, but the fire got out of control.”

Great North Woods Container Services told Mattei the dumpster was worth about $5,000 and might be a total loss.

Asked what the dumpster was doing in the driveway, Emmerling Sr. said they were doing some spring cleaning, “just getting rid of some garbage.”

Asked if he planned to hire an attorney or let the Public Defender’s Office continue to handle the case, Emmerling Sr. told the Sun, “It will be handled correctly.”

Of his son, he said, “He’s just a kid. It was a mistake, and we’re taking care of it.”

Circuit Court Judge Christopher Keating in his May 8 bail order said that (except for uninstalling the apps), Emmerling “shall not use or visit or engage in activity on social media, including but not limited to TikTok and Twitch.”

Managing Editor Margaret McKenzie contributed to this article.