Prosecutor: Area Woman Sentenced to 7-Year Prison Term for Hit-and-Run Fatality

A Middletown woman has been sentenced to a seven-year prison term in connection with a fatal 2015 accident that took the life of a 15-year-old girl, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Friday.

Toni A. Marletta, 50, of Thompson Avenue in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, was sentenced by Judge Ronald L. Reisner on the one second-degree count of knowingly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in a fatality, and on third-degree endangering the welfare of a child counts. Marletta also received an additional six-month concurrent prison term for failing to have her motor vehicle insured and a one year loss of license for leaving the scene of a motor vehicle.

Marletta was sentenced after pleading guilty before Judge Reisner on Sept. 16, 2016 in connection with the fatal motor vehicle collision on July 7, 2015 that killed a 15-year-old girl who was crossing Route 36 in the township.

The accident …

Middletown Township Police were dispatched at approximately 8:24 p.m., on July 7, 2015, to Route 36 in the area of Avenue D for a report of a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, police immediately located the 15-year-old victim, Marissa Procopio, of Atlantic Highlands. She was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune Township where she died the next day.

An investigation into the fatal collision by Middletown Township police, in cooperation with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team, determined the victim was crossing Route 36 in the area of Avenue D, when she was struck by a motor vehicle driven by Marletta.

Marletta, who had three 16-year-old girls in her car at the time of the collision, fled the scene, but the investigation led police to Marletta’s vehicle later that evening. The vehicle displayed damage consistent with the collision.

Marletta ultimately arrived at the Middletown Township Police Department, but was later released pending further investigation into the collision. The investigation progressed and Marletta was charged on July 15, 2015, with knowingly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in a fatality. Subsequent to the initial charge, the others were lodged and she was convicted.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Meghan Doyle. Marletta is represented by Peter M. O’Mara, Esq., of Little Silver.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office