Lower Police Arrest Man for Restraining Order Violation

VILLAS — On Friday March 5 at about 7:30 a.m., Lower Township Police received a call from a female who stated she was calling from New York City.
Police reported that the female advised the dispatcher that there was a final restraining order in effect barring her ex- boyfriend, Bernard Ruckhardt, 55 of Villas, from having any contact with her or going to her residence on the 100 block of East Atlantic Avenue in this community.
She stated she had just received a phone call from Ruckhardt, and he claimed he had just “Broke into her home.”
The communications center confirmed that there was in fact an outstanding final restraining order issued against Ruckhardt.
Officers were dispatched to the female’s residence to conduct a property check.
Officer Dallas Bohn and Officer Robert Fessler conducted a check of the residence and found a window to be unlocked. The officers entered the residence and located Ruckhardt in a bedroom.
Ruckhardt was arrested at the residence and then transported to the Lower Township Police Department for processing where he was charged with:
Violation of a Final Restraining Order being a 4th degree crime
Criminal Trespass while violating a Final Restraining Order also a 4th degree crime
Ruckhardt was lodged in the Cape May County Jail on $10,000 cash bail set by Lower Township Municipal Court Judge David Deweese with a no contact order for the victim.
Lower Township Police Officers charged Ruckhardt with driving while intoxicated on Dec.16, 2009 after he drove his vehicle into the side of a residence on East Atlantic Avenue, Villas.
That residence was so severely damaged that it had to be condemned and torn down.