An intact utility stanchion abuts one damaged by vandalism at the borough-owned marina. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two teens were charged with a recent vandalism spree in Marine Park after a Red Bank police stakeout caught them in the act Wednesday night, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
The two males, Middletown residents aged 17 and 15, were seen emerging from a car at about 8:45 p.m. and using their feet to smash a stanchion that supplies electricity and fresh water to boats in the borough-owned marina in the park, McConnell said.
The pair, who were not identified because they are juveniles. jumped back into the car but were arrested before they could leave the park by an undercover officer who observed their actions from an unmarked vehicle, he said.
A subsequent investigation led police to charge the pair with destroying nine stanchions in the marina in five separate attacks in recent weeks, McConnell said.
The devices cost the the town several thousand dollars apiece, and the borough will seek restitution, he said.
The boys were not charged with grafitti vandalism that occurred in the men’s restroom in the park on the same day as one of stanchion attacks, McConnell said.
The pair were released to their parents, he said.
Meantime, “now the town can move forward with repairing the stanchions for the boating season,” he said. “There was no sense in repairing them when we had someone knocking them down.”
