By Charles Layton
The four adult defendants accused of rock-throwing vandalism in Ocean Grove and elsewhere are scheduled to appear in court next week for a pre-indictment conference.
They and a fifth person, a juvenile, are accused of cruising around numerous towns late at night, smashing the windows of parked cars and committing other acts of vandalism. Police have said more than 150 separate incidents were reported from January through April of this year, spanning more than 20 different towns, all of them, except for Brick, in Monmouth County.
Neptune police have cited 33 acts of window smashing in Ocean Grove alone from January through March.
The defendants were arrested on April 12 in Spring Lake. Police stopped their car after they had allegedly broken a car window and a house window. A backpack full of softball-size paving stones was discovered in the car. All the defendants made confessions during video interviews on the night of their arrest, police said.
Two of the defendants are Lauren Magaw and Philip Williams. Photo from Facebook
The adult defendants are Philip David Williams, 24; James Joseph Turetzkin, 19; Lauren Ashley Magaw, 21, and Tyler Emmons, 18. All are from Neptune Township except for Turetzkin, who is from Neptune City.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Anita White-Gillyard said Thursday that the pre-indictment court date is tentatively set for June 14 before Judge Thomas F. Scully.
She said the investigation is not yet completed, but that so far investigators have accumulated evidence from Atlantic Highlands, Avon, Brielle, Deal, Howell, Manasquan, Neptune, Rumson, Sea Girt, Spring Lake, Loch Arbour Village, West Long Branch, Tinton Falls and Wall.
Unless the defendants plead guilty, their case will likely go before a grand jury. If the case goes to trial, it would be before a jury.
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