AG Detective’s Irish Weekend Case Dismissed

NORTH WILDWOOD – A detective with the state attorney general’s office had an attempted trespassing case against her thrown out by a prosecutor in municipal court Nov. 15, her lawyer said.
Danielle Oliveira’s attorney, Timothy R. Smith, said the North Wildwood municipal prosecutor, Ron Gelzunas Jr., did agree to dismiss the case.
In a statement to the Herald, Smith thanked Gelzunas for his professionalism but said the arrest was “a complete injustice because it stemmed from [Oliveira] being charged with an alleged offense that did not exist under the law and was based upon supposed facts which did not comport with the reality of the situation.”
Gelzunas did not respond to an email from the Herald seeking comment on the case.
North Wildwood police alleged Oliveira tried sneaking back into an Olde New Jersey Avenue drinking establishment through an exit, after bar staff told her to leave, and was subsequently charged with defiant trespassing, BreakingAC first reported.
In a police bodycam video of the arrest, posted to YouTube by Breaking AC, another woman outside the bar, who is reportedly Cortney Lawrence, a lieutenant with the New Jersey Office of Criminal Justice, told police Oliveira left the bar to take a call related to a police-involved shooting in North Jersey.
The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to the Herald’s request to clarify Oliveira’s job status or for more information on the statement made about her leaving the bar to take a work call about a shooting.
“Justice was served,” Smith stated. “Mrs. Oliveira has suffered unduly from her false arrest and is greatly relieved by her full and well-deserved vindication.”
Email the writer, Shay Roddy, at sroddy@cmcherald.com.