A “capias warrant” for the arrest of Sean Di Somma was issued and is still in effect, a spokesman for the city of Dallas told redbankgreen late Friday afternoon, adding another twist to a bitter back-and-forth between rival Red Bank council candidacies.
City public information officer Jose Luis Torres said Di Somma’s check to pay a fine for running a stop sign in January, 2011 was returned for insufficient funds a year later, and the warrant was issued, he said in an email.
“Mr. DiSomma is currently in capias warrant status,” Torres wrote.
Di Somma called the latest twist in the controversy part of a “bureaucratic nightmare.”
Separately, in a voicemail, Torres said, “yes, there is an active warrant for his arrest… and it is still active.” He did not say when the warrant was issued.
The city records website, which was searched repeatedly by redbankgreen starting Thursday night, was updated late Friday to indicate the presence of a warrant, information that was not there previously.
According to the website of Sullo & Sullo, a Texas law firm,
the ultimate goal of a capias warrant is to force someone to comply with a court order. Certain jurisdictions also use capias warrants in the case of persons who failed to pay their traffic citation or appear in court as promised, however this is generally after a plea has been entered while an alias warrant is used prior to a plea being entered.
The information provided by Torres would appear to contradict the assertion of another city employee, working in the courts and detention department, who told Di Somma and a redbankgreen reporter on a conference call that no warrant had ever been issued or was outstanding.
It supports, however, the claims of Monmouth County Democrats, who have made the the warrant an issue in the borough election campaign for two council seats.
Di Somma and activist Cindy Burnham are challenging incumbent Democrats Sharon Lee and Kathy Horgan.
“I just punched up the [Dallas police] site and now there’s a warrant,” Di Somma said when called for comment.
“The city of Dallas is just a bureaucratic nightmare,” he said. Citing a credit card repayment of the $434.35 fine Thursday night, he said, “I’ve tried to take care of my responsibility on multiple occasions, and I don’t know where to go from here.”
Prior to about 5 p.m. Friday, he said, “according to every source I have, there was no traffic warrant, and no warrant of any kind. But I’ve tried to be a good citizen and meet my responsibility.”
Monmouth Democrats chairman Vin Gopal said in a press release Friday afternoon that the issue was one of “responsibility and character.”
“For a candidate who has only recently become a resident of Red Bank to allege financial mismanagement of the incumbent council members when he himself has ignored his own personal responsibility is undeserving of the public trust,” Gopal said.
