LAWRENCE:Man accused to accosting student is due in court

By Lea Kahn
   A 68-year-old Lawrence Township man who is accused of trying to force a Rider University student into his car on the campus has been ordered to stay off all school and college campuses in New Jersey by Lawrence Township Municipal Court Judge Paul Catanese.
   Judge Catanese also ordered Tony A. Kadyhrob, who lives on Princeton Pike, to undergo a psychiatric evaluation by next week, according to Lawrence police Lt. Charles B. Edgar. The judge issued his orders Tuesday morning when Mr. Kadyhrob appeared before him in Municipal Court.
   The case against Mr. Kadyhrob, who was charged with enticing an adult into a motor vehicle following the March 28 incident, has been forwarded to the Mercer County prosecutor’s office for review, Lt. Edgar said. The case will be heard in Mercer County state Superior Court.
   Lt. Edgar said that while police could not comment on Mr. Kadyhrob’s mental status, “his behavior does appear strange.”
   He added that “according to what we know,” Mr. Kadyhrob has been observed on the campuses of both Rider University and The College of New Jersey, although the only incident appears to have occurred at Rider.
   The incident occurred at 2:28 p.m. March 28 as the 19-year-old Rider University student was walking through a parking lot on campus, Lt. Edgar said. She told police she had parked her car and was on her way to her destination when she noticed a man who she described as “a little strange.”
   He was standing near where she had to pass, Lt. Edgar said, so to avoid him, she pretended to talk on her cell phone. As she passed him, he began to engage her in small talk. She started to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and attempted to force her into his car.
   The student broke free of the man, Lt. Edgar said, and she ran to her dormitory room. She called the campus security department, which in turn contacted the Lawrence Township Police Department, he said.
   Police officers worked throughout the night to identify the man. Through the victim’s description of the suspect and his car, police were able to “put it together” and they were able to locate him, Lt. Edgar said.
   They prepared a warrant for Mr. Kadyhrob’s arrest and served it on him at his home March 29. He was taken to the Lawrence Township Police Department jail, where he was released on $2,500 bail.
   Meanwhile, Rider University declared Mr. Kadyhrob “persona non grata,” which means he will be arrested for trespassing if he is seen on the Lawrence or Princeton campuses at any time for any reason, said Daniel Higgins, who is Rider University’s executive director of university communications.
   The Westminster Choir College is part of Rider University. It is based in Princeton Borough.
   Immediately after the March 28 incident, a warning notice was issued to students, faculty and staff at Rider’s Lawrence and Princeton campuses via RiderAlert, the school’s electronic notification system, Mr. Higgins said. E-mail and voicemail notifications also were sent out, as well as postings on the entrance/exit doors to buildings on campus. The notices included photographs of Mr. Kadyhrob.
   ”As an additional precaution, Public Safety has been conducting increased patrols throughout the campus,” he said. “These patrols have been supplemented by Lawrence Township police, who regularly patrol the Lawrence campus Thursday through Saturday nights during the fall and spring semesters.”
   Although there have been no confirmed reports of his return to Rider’s campus since last week’s incident, the Public Safety Department received several phone calls from members of the Rider University community — after the notification went out — who indicated they had seen Mr. Kadyhrob on campus prior to the incident, Mr. Higgins said.
   They had not reported those sightings to Public Safety at the time, Mr. Higgins said, adding that “no one indicated that Mr. Kadyhrob approached a member of our Rider University community prior to last week’s incident.”