A Marlboro resident who worked as a counselor in the Marlboro Recreation Department’s summer day camp in 2014 has been accepted into a pretrial intervention (PTI) program following his guilty plea to a charge of fourth degree cyber harassment.
On the morning of Oct. 9, state Superior Court Judge Ronald Reisner accepted Matthew Kleinstein, 20, into the PTI program during a hearing at the Monmouth County Courthouse, Freehold.
According to Charles Webster, a spokesman with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, on Aug. 17, Kleinstein pleaded guilty to a charge of cyber harassment.
Webster said Kleinstein’s plea followed an incident that occurred in the summer of 2014 when Kleinstein was “knowingly sending, posting, commenting, requesting, suggesting or proposing any lewd, indecent, or obscene material to four underage girls” while he was working as a camp counselor in the Marlboro summer day camp.
In accepting Kleinstein into PTI, Reisner said Kleinstein must allow visits from his probation officer, notify his probation officer within 24 hours of any future arrest, and notify his probation officer if he changes his place of work or his address.
Kleinstein must also complete mandatory drug and alcohol monitoring and, if necessary, counseling. Kleinstein will be in the PTI program for a minimum of one year.
If Kleinstein successfully competes the PTI program he will not have a criminal record.
Reisner asked Kleinstein if he under- stood and accepted the terms of his entry into PTI and Kleinstein said he understood and agreed to the terms.
According to Webster, if Kleinstein fails to meet the requirements of PTI, he will be arrested and sentenced to a maximum of 18 months in state prison.
A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a girl Kleinstein contacted electronically while he was working as a camp counselor in 2014 is pending against Marlboro Township and other parties.
On Oct. 8, Mayor Jonathan Hornik said, “While I cannot comment on the specifics because it is pending litigation and a personnel matter, I will say that we have reviewed the policies, protocol and procedures involved in this case and believe that everything was followed 100 percent in terms of required actions by all levels of our township.”
In response to the news about Kleinstein’s guilty plea, the Republican candidates who are seeking election to the office of mayor and Township Council in the Nov. 3 election issued a press release and said, “Councilman Mike Scalea was a member of the recreation committee when this incident occurred. He has failed the people of Marlboro on the most fundamental level — the protection of our children and grandchildren. He failed to take corrective action.”
Hornik responded to the Republicans and said, “To be clear, our internal investigation, which covered Councilman Scalea’s time when he served on the recreation committee, showed that all policies, protocols and procedures were followed by him and all the other members of the recreation committee.”
Republicans Ira Goldberg, who is seeking the mayor’s seat, and John Dwyer and Sui Allex, who are seeking Township Council seats, are running for office against three Democrats — Hornik, who is seeking his third term as mayor, and Scalea and Councilwoman Randi Marder.