A couple is facing charges of animal cruelty in connection with the death of German shepherd puppies in their care died due to alleged neglect, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Tuesday.
Daniel McDonald, 25, and Tricia Jaccoma, 24, are charged with four counts of third-degree animal cruelty four puppies were found dead on a property in Howell where they were temporarily living.
Authorities are investigating a Tuesday night Asbury Park shooting that left a teen in critical condition, officials from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday.
The chief financial officer of an area construction company has been arrested and charged with embezzling over a two-year period more than $660,000 from the company, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Wednesday.
A Monmouth County man pleaded guilty on Tuesday morning to animal cruelty, admitting to causing injury to a pit bull terrier dog, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.
A multi-jurisdictional investigation into a February shooting in Keansburg has resulted in five arrests, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Friday.
Shortly before 5 p.m. on Feb. 20, Keansburg police responded to a report of shots fired in the first block of Seabreeze Avenue. The intended victim was identified and evidence consistent with a shooting was recovered.
A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office and Keansburg Police Department was launched. That investigation revealed that on February 20, 2020, the victim was shot at multiple times from a vehicle occupied by three people. Subsequent investigation led to the identification of that vehicle, and the three occupants of that vehicle were identified as Wayne Jones, Jr., Brittany Smalls, and Tyrone Bailey.
On May 6, 2020, during a motor vehicle stop of Wayne Jones, Jr., related to the investigation, Jones, Jr. and two others were found to be in possession of a stolen, loaded, 9mm handgun.
Jones, Jr., 23, of Keansburg, Bailey, 21, of Asbury Park, and Smalls, 25, of Neptune Township, are charged with: first-degree attempted murder, second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and third-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Jones is also charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and third-degree receiving stolen property.
Tiera Young, 24, of Lakewood, and Darrell Ghee, 25, of Asbury Park, are charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and third-degree receiving stolen property. Ghee was also charged with second-degree certain person not to possess a firearm. Ghee was recently paroled from a 30-day home confinement furlough after he was released from New Jersey State Prison under Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Order #124. Ghee was previously sentenced on Dec. 31, 2019 to an aggregate four-year New Jersey state prison term for eluding and CDS offenses, with a maximum release date set for July 25, 2020.
All five defendants are being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) in Freehold Township pending individual detention hearings scheduled for May 18, 2020.
If convicted of attempted murder, Jones, Smalls and Bailey face sentences of up to 20 years in a New Jersey state prison without parole, subject to the provisions of the No Early Release Act (NERA), requiring them to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole. They would also be under parole supervision for five years following their release from state prison.
If convicted of unlawful possession of a handgun, each individual faces a sentence of five to 10 years in prison subject to the provisions of the Graves Act, requiring them to serve a mandatory 42 months in state prison before becoming eligible for release on parole.
If convicted of being a certain person not to possess a handgun, Ghee faces a statutorily mandated sentence of five years in prison with five years parole ineligibility.
— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office
A Monmouth County corrections officer pleaded guilty to charges that while on the job, he engaged in sexual contact with an inmate at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI), Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.
An offer of a ride for four juveniles on April 22 turned into the alleged sexual assault of at least three of them and the arrest of a pair of brothers on that and related charges, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.
Of the previous week’s seven infractions of the statewide stay-at-home edict during the COVID-19 pandemic that were cited on Sunday by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Saturday’s Rumson party was honed in on as the most flagrant of defiances.
“Well, you don’t get much more blatant than the party crowd in Rumson that resisted and insulted police officers who asked them to disperse,” NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said in a released statement.
As social media comments ran rampant after Rumson police on Saturday night issued a statement about the party and the blatant defiance they were met with when they broke it up, announcing a zero tolerance policy moving forward, they followed that up on Sunday an announcement that the matter was under investigation and charges were pending.
Rumson Police Chief Scott Paterson is handling all inquiries and has been contacted by R-FH Retro. His comments will be included when they become available.
In the meantime, the Attorney General has announced that charges were filed in the incident against at least one person.
“John Maldjian, 54, of Rumson, was charged today by the Rumson Police with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and two separate charges related to violating the emergency orders. All are disorderly persons offenses,” the release from the Attorney General said.
The charges are all disorderly persons offenses.
Maldjian is a musician and attorney, according to his Facebook page. Police, according to the release, were dispatched at 8:19 p.m. to respond to a large party on Blackpoint Road with a band.
“When they arrived, they discovered the homeowner, John Maldjian, together with another man, playing acoustic guitars on the front porch of the home. There were approximately 30 people, between the ages of 40 and 50, gathered on Maldjian’s front lawn and the adjoining street watching the performance. Some had lawn chairs and alcoholic beverages,” the release added.
The police cars’ flashing lights and requests to end the party were ignored. The band kept playing. Maldjian did not stop singing and playing until approached by an officer.
The crowd became unruly at this point, police said, and shouting curses at police and “Welcome to Nazi Germany.”
Charges against those unruly audience members/party attendees are “forthcoming,” the Attorney General said.
“The Governor’s executive orders are commonsense measures to keep people safe during this historic health crisis,” Attorney General Grewal said. “When people like the partiers in Rumson flout the orders and show disrespect and hostility to police officers, they not only put themselves and the others immediately involved in peril, they risk inciting others to engage in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior. Our police officers are working courageously every day to protect us all, and we will continue to charge anyone who violates the emergency orders, which literally are a matter of life and death.”
The other statewide incidents cited included: 11 non-essential businesses in Newark being open; a woman arrested in Teaneck coughing and spitting on police while in custody, saying she had the virus; a Wegmans supermarket coughing incident; a dog groomer continuing to operate; a backyard gathering in Toms River; and someone bringing five youths from a youth shelter out to play basketball.
As of Sunday, there were 2,351 positive cases of COVID-19 in Monmouth County alone. In Rumson, the positive count is up to 21. In Fair Haven the count is up to 14. In Middletown, the largest municipality in the county, over the bridge from Rumson, the township has largest number of positive cases at 217 now.
An early morning call reporting an unconscious and bleeding female at a residence on Norwood Avenue in Long Branch has been determined to be a suicide, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
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