Pratt Institute architecture professor Gamal El-Zoghby was charged with child endangerment after the Jan. 17 fire at his Eagleswood Township home.
The 76-year-old was due to appear in Municipal Court on Wednesday. But the charges were turned over to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
The office will review the case and decide whether to present it to a grand jury.
His attorney Hal Haveson says his client bought the magazine decades ago and hasn't looked at it since.
El-Zoghby will seek to enter a program which lets first-time offenders charged with nonviolent crimes have a criminal record wiped clean.
