Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for January, 2019. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
01/3/19 – Ryan Neff, 41, of Rumson was arrested by S/O Donald Morse for DUI, in the area of Rumson Road and Buttonwood Lane.
01/5/19 – Lawrence Adams, 63, of Rumson was arrested by Det. Cody Lovgren for Contempt of Court, in the area of East River Road and Park Avenue.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for August and September, 2018. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
8/09/18 – Nicholas Gil, 24, of Port Monmouth was arrested by D/Sgt. Chris Isherwood for Contempt of Court, in the area of East River Road and Lakeside Avenue.
8/12/18 – Luke Schudlick, 32, of Colts Neck was arrested by S/O Michael Volker for DUI, in the area of Bingham Avenue and Bingham Hill Circle.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for April through June, 2018. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
4/15/18 – Dennis Heid, 26, of Long Branch was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Possession of Paraphernalia, in the area of Ridge Road and Harding Lane.
4/26/18 – Rogelio Sanchez, 28, of Tinton Falls was arrested by Ptl. James Fenn for Contempt of Court after turning himself in at HQ.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for February and March, 2018. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
2/04/18 – Jake Mullaney, 22, of Colts Neck was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Possession of CDS and Possession of Paraphernalia, in the area of Rumson Road and Club Way.
2/05/18 – Claude Owen, 54, of Monmouth Beach was arrested by Ptl. Daniel Campanella for DUI, in the area of Rumson Road and Buena Vista Avenue.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for October and December, 2017 and January, 2018. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
12/12/17 – Michelle Mitchell, 48, of Rumson was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Possession of CDS in the area of Bingham Avenue and Bingham Hill Circle.
12/27/17 – Anagabrielle Atardi, 21, of West Long Branch was arrested by S/O Michael Volker for Possession of CDS and Possession of Paraphernalia.
12/27/17 – James Carden 2nd, 22, of Monmouth Beach was arrested by S/O Michael Volker for Possession of CDS and Possession of Paraphernalia. More →
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for October and November, 2017. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
10/3/17 – Scott Adams, 35, of Atlantic Highlands was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Contempt of Court in the area of Rumson Road and Oakes Road.
10/6/17 – Gregory Gebeline, 25, of Swedesboro was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Possession of CDS and Possession of Paraphernalia.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for August and September, 2017. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
8/17/17 – Conor Ban, 21, of Rumson was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Contempt of Court in the area of Avenue Two Rivers and Clover Lane.
8/17/17 – Robert Olshan, 26, of Rumson was arrested by Sgt. Peter Koenig for Defiant Trespass in the area of E. River Road and Carton Street.
Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Rumson Police Department for June and July, 2017. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
6/3/17 – James Laughinghouse, 18, of Rumson was arrested by Ptl. Grace Maggiulli for Underage Possession of Alcohol in the area of Navesink Avenue.
6/7/17 – Julia Mannion, 27, of Fair Haven was arrested by Sgt. Anthony Ciambrone for Contempt of Court at HQ.
6/16/17 – Jack Kreutzberg, 18, of Rumson was arrested by Ptl. Michael Berger for Possession of CDS in the area of Oakes Road.
By JOHN T. WARD
Two Rumson teens were arrested on booze-related charges after police busted up a party Saturday night.
The arrests followed a complaint to police at about 11 p.m. in which a caller reported a large party underway and multiple juveniles on the caller’s front lawn on Elm Place, said Detective Christopher Isherwood said.
Rumson officials said they learned that Oxford House had created the recovery home at 61 South Ward Avenue only after a resident’s death there. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An Avon-by-the-Sea man has been indicted for the overdose death of a resident of Rumson’s Oxford House addiction recovery facility, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced Monday.
Michael Renna, 26 of Sylvania Avenue, faces two counts arising from the October 2013 death of 25-year-old Christopher L. Pesce, according to Gramiccioni.
By JOHN T. WARD
The owner of a Rumson home where police found 50 underage partiers consuming alcohol last Saturday night has been issued a summons, police said.
Lori Krikorian, 48, who police said was present when they arrived, was cited Thursday for maintaining a nuisance, Detective Chris Isherwood said in a prepared statement issued Friday.
By JOHN T. WARD
A Rumson teen was arrested and about 50 underage drinkers were dispersed from a party Saturday night, borough police reported Tuesday.
Detective Chris Isherwood tells redbankgreen tha Sergeant Damien Brennan and Patrolman James Fenn were on patrol when they came upon “large packs of kids running in the road” outside a Rumson Road residence at about 10:48 p.m.
On further investigation, cops found “numerous bottles of alcohol and cases of scattered beer cans, both opened and unopened,” at a party attended by dozens under 21 years old, he said.
The overdose death of an Oxford House resident has resulted in charges against a man described by authorities as an acquaintance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An Avon-by-the-Sea man has been charged for allegedly supplying the heroin that led to the overdose death of a resident of Rumson’s Oxford House rehab facility last October, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced Tuesday.
Michael Renna, 25, was charged with one count of first degree strict liability for a drug-induced death and one count of third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said in a prepared statement.
News about the death of 25-year-old Christopher Pesce was the first that word that nearby residents had that the recovery residence had opened two months earlier in their residential corner of Rumson, and ignited a firestorm of objections.
It also led to a pair of countervailing lawsuits by the borough and Oxford House, litigation that now appears to be close to settlement.
Oxford House says in a court filing that the group home at 61 South Ward Avenue is getting new residents. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Oxford House has gone on the legal offensive against Rumson.
The parent organization of the embattled group home for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts filed a federal lawsuit against the borough on Friday, alleging discrimination in violation of fair housing and Americans with Disabilities laws.
The suit claims the town and borough Administrator Tom Rogers “have interfered with operation and occupancy” of the residence in the aftermath of two drug overdoses at the house since it opened in August – one resulting of the death of a 25-year-old Holmdel man in October, and the second in December, in which a resident required emergency treatment.
The manager of Oxford Houses for New Jersey says the Rumson group home is still occupied, but declines to say if there’s a proctor on site. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rumson officials failed in their attempt to get a court order forcing a group home for recovering addicts to be vacated. But they appear to have effectively gotten what they wanted:
an empty Oxford House.
Or have they?
Contrary to the impressions of town officials and some neighbors, “it’s not vacant,” according to George Kent, who manages the house, at 61 South Ward Avenue, for the nonprofit Oxford House.
If it’s not vacant, tid Oxford follow through on a purported plan to change the facility from all-male to one for women and children?
“All I can say is nothing’s changed,” Kent told redbankgreen last week. “There’s people living there.”
Lucky Break was closed for more than two months as the owner struggled to find a way out of red tape over BYOB rules. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Lucky Break Billiards, the Red Bank pool hall that shut itself down after becoming entangled in bureaucratic red tape over beer and wine consumption, will reopen Thursday.
Hall owner James Hertler tells redbankgreen he got the green light to reopen Wednesday from Mayor Pasquale Menna.
“The gist of it was that there was no complaint” by anyone that Hertler could challenge in court, Hertler said Menna told him. “My takeaway was that we’re good to go.”
“Not the best mix” of residents formed the initial population at the Oxford House when it opened in Rumson in August, a facility official told neighbors Tuesday night. One of the residents died of a drug overdose. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The addiction-recovery residence that popped up unannounced in a quiet Rumson neighborhood this summer “did not get off to a good start,” an official with the organization that sponsors the facility told residents Tuesday night.
“We haven’t been good neighbors,” said George Kent, a regional manager with Oxford House, “and I take full responsibility for that.”
Standing at a lectern in the nave of St. George’s by the River Episcopal Church just a block from the Oxford House on South Ward Avenue, Kent fielded sometimes hostile questions from about 40 residents of the West Park neighborhood, hoping to establish a dialogue in the aftermath of a drug overdose death at the house.
James Hertler, below, shut down Lucky Break Billiards in September, a month after police cracked down over BYOB issues. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
How’s this for an auspicious start for a business?
• In early 2011, in an effort to spice up nightlife, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna spearheads a zoning law change to allow billiards parlors and other entertainment-based businesses to operate downtown.
• Several months later, former Mayor Ed McKenna, as lawyer on a lease for a planned billiards parlor, calls now-deceased police Chief Steve McCarthy to confirm that it could operate as a bring-your-own-beer and wine establishment. McKenna gets an OK, he tells his client, James Hertler, who was in McKenna’s office during the call.
• That October, Hertler goes before the zoning board and wins quick, unanimous approval of his plan for Lucky Break Billiards. Throughout its lengthy resolution of approval, the board notes that Lucky Break will be a BYOB that serves coffee and microwavable snacks and will allow its customers to bring in food from nearby restaurants.
• The following March, Hertler and partner Jeff Regen open Lucky Break at 14 West Front Street, in a space that had been vacant for four years.
• Lucky Break toughs it out for the next 18 months, building a repeat clientele largely based on private parties and edging toward profitability.
• Though it’s located amid a busy cluster of bars, there’s not a single incident requiring a police response at Lucky Break. “We worked hard to be a good neighbor,” said Hertler, a borough resident.
Yet without any change in the pattern described above, guess who abruptly finds himself accused of violating liquor laws – and out of business?
A write-in campaign for two candidates billing themselves as the Rumson Family ticket emerged in the wake of the Oxford House controversy last month. Below, Tim McCooey at the October 22 borough council meeting, the night before he became a candidate. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
If the trend over the past century holds on Election Day, Rumson will seat an all-Republican borough council in January.
Ah, but which Republicans?
In a development that may add drama to Rumson’s usual election-night snoozer, two political newcomers have mounted an eleventh-hour write-in campaign, hoping to harness what they say is frustration with their party’s incumbents.
An overflow crowd jammed Rumson’s council chambers to air concerns about an addiction recovery house in town. Below, Barbara Russell returns to her seat after speaking with borough Attorney Marty Barger. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rumson residents packed a borough meeting Tuesday night to demand action regarding Oxford House, an addiction-recovery residence where a tenant died of a suspected drug overdose 10 days ago.
Seated on the floor and standing in the hallway outside the bimonthly meeting of the town’s governing body, neighbors teed up Oxford House for setting up a residence at 61 South Ward Avenue without notice and for a self-governance model they say isn’t working.
“They’re sitting on the porch and they are drinking,” in violation of Oxford’s own bylaws governing locally chartered houses, Washington Avenue resident Barbara Russell said of the house’s nine residents.
Having recently completed alcohol and drug treatment programs and then allowed to live together without supervision, Oxford’s young clients are naturally “going to come out and have a party,” said Russell, who described herself as a recovering alcoholic for 26 years.
The mayor and council are expected to form an Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee to hear complaints against bars. (Click to enlarge)
On the agenda for Tuesday night’s bimonthly meeting of Rumson council: the creation of an Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee.
And the first item on the committee’s docket: hearing a complaint against a borough tavern for maintaining a disorderly establishment.
The crime reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of July 27 to August 3, 2012. This information is unedited.
Criminal Mischief occurring between 7-22-12 and 7-27-12 at Marine Park. Victim reported that unknown person(s) cut two ropes, which secured boat to dock, however there was no damage to boat. Ptl. Heather Pubylski.
Attempted Burglary occurring at Shrewsbury Ave. Liquor Store between 7-27-12 and 7-28-12. Owner reported that unknown person(s) broke glass in front door. No entry was gained, however, the door lock had been tampered with. Ptl. Heather Pubylski.
Rumson police, continuing a crackdown on illegal alcohol use by minors, arrested three young adults for possession late Sunday night, according to an announcement by Chief Richard Tobias.
The crackdown, coming on the heels of a survey that found heavier-than-expected use of alcohol and drugs by students at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional, also includes a ramped-up effort to publicize such arrests, Tobias tells redbankgreen.
RBR students look on as emergency personnel perform an extrication of a ‘victim’ trapped in a vehicle. Below, Joy Jones displays a portrait of her son Steven as she speaks to students about his death at the hands of his drunk best friend. (Photos by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
By STACIE FANELLI
Little Silver police were the first on the scene Friday morning at Red Bank Regional, where three cars lay smashed on the pavement. Sirens blaring, at least a dozen more emergency vehicles lined up in front of the school minutes later.
No one was hurt. In fact, the entire senior class stood around the “crash” site, struggling to hold back laughter when a drunken driver stumbled dramatically out of the first vehicle.
By JOHN T. WARD
Some 40 teens from Rumson and Fair Haven, and a pair of Rumson homeowners, are facing charges following a police raid on a house party Saturday night, Rumson police said Monday.
The raid followed a police officer’s discovery of an “extremely intoxicated” female juvenile in the area of Bellevue Avenue and Rumson Road at 9:54 p.m., said Chief Richard Tobias.