Chung Ho served 30 years of a life sentence for 1994 murder

ERMA – The killer of Lower Township Police Officer David C. Douglass in 1994 is scheduled to be released from East Jersey State Prison on Sept. 23.

Chung Ho, according to former Lower Township police chief Ed Donohue, was granted parole at his first parole hearing by the New Jersey State Parole Board, which has also granted him permission to move to Florida upon his release.

Donohue was a friend and fellow officer serving with Douglass when, on Feb. 18, 1994, Douglass responded to a call reporting suspicious activity at Sunnyside and Fieldview drives in North Cape May. Douglass, then 34, encountered Ho, also known as Chung Hop, who fired a handgun at Douglass. The bullet struck Douglass in the neck. Douglass was able to return fire once before his weapon jammed. He was also able to call in that he was hit and was airlifted to Atlantic City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Donohue said in a letter to the Herald that the Douglass family had twice given testimony before the parole board, and the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association and the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police had written letters opposing Ho’s release.

“I get that Chung Ho is now an old man,” Donohue wrote, “but 30 years ago he made a conscious decision to take the life of a young Lower Township police officer! He now gets to spend the remainder of his days with his family.”

Donohue said the Douglass family received a two-paragraph form letter from the parole board advising them of the release of “the man who murdered their husband, father and grandfather.”

“He never gave Dave Douglass that option!” Donohue said.

The notice from the parole board closed by saying if the Douglass family had any question or concerns to feel free to call them.

“Are you kidding me!” Donohue said.

David Douglass Jr. said answers are few and far between regarding the facts around his father’s death and the circumstances of Ho’s release. Douglass Jr. said it is odd that the parole board made the decision to grant parole to Ho after about one hour.

“To think that deciding a cop killer should go free after an hour of interviewing him, when we had to travel to Trenton twice to be heard – and now he gets to live in Florida? It’s like he’s retiring there,” Douglass Jr. said.

According to Douglass Jr., Ho told the parole board he had dementia and does not remember the details of the shooting.

“And yet he told the parole board that he was worried about parole because in five months he would be maxed out,” Douglass Jr. said. “He was given 30 years to life – there is no maxing out.”

Douglass Jr. spoke to the Herald on Tuesday, Aug. 13, and provided a copy of a letter from the parole board, dated July 25. The letter was addressed to him and signed by Tanya A. Milton, coordinator with the Victims Services Unit. The letter informs Douglass Jr. that Ho requested and was granted permission to move to Florida. Douglass Jr. said he never received a copy of the letter from the parole board, but rather it was Donohue who showed him the letter.

“Ed Donohue told me (Ho) was being sent to Florida, and the letter has my name and address on it,” Douglass Jr. said.

Douglass Jr. also said he doesn’t understand how Ho was able to get permission to move to Florida immediately upon parole. He said he has researched how parole works in New Jersey, and most parolees have to show good behavior before being given permission to move to another state. He doesn’t understand why Ho was given this courtesy.

Douglass Jr. said he learned that Ho had a wife and two children when he was sent to prison, although he has no idea where they are living. He suspects Ho might have family in Florida, meaning he will be able to live out his time with them. In an interview with NBC News in Philadelphia in February, Douglass Jr. said his family only gets to visit a gravestone.

Douglass Jr. was 12 when his father was killed. He is now 42 and has been a Cape May County sheriff’s officer for 15 years.

He has been working on a documentary about his father’s murder and attempted to interview Ho in prison in the spring, but Ho never responded to the request.

The Shooting

On that February night in 1994, Douglass responded to the call about a man taking items from a house in the area and placing them at the curb. The individual, later identified as Ho, 49, of New York City, was described as a disgruntled, recently fired employee of the Peking Palace restaurant. He was removing items from a home where restaurant employees lived. Ho also set fire to the house.

At around 7:15 p.m. that night, Douglass made contact with Ho. There are different versions of what happened, although only Douglass and Ho can be certain of all the details. One version suggests Douglass grabbed hold of Ho’s jacket and the man wriggled out of his jacket. Evidence found in the pocket of Ho’s jacket helped to convict the man. Douglass Jr., in an interview with the Herald in February, said he believed his father was seated in his police vehicle when he was shot. He said the fatal bullet entered his father’s neck and settled in the ribcage, suggesting a downward angle for the shot.

Ho’s jacket, according to Donohue and Douglass Jr., contained evidence that helped identify Ho and his location in New York, including a business card with a name and New York lottery tickets that had been filled out by hand. There was also a Chinese language newspaper, a New York transit coin and a couple of keys on a keychain that read “Vasinee Food Corporation” – an importer of Asian food products.

The lottery tickets were found to have been bought at two bodegas in Chinatown located within a block of Ho’s apartment. Police also found in the jacket an New Jersey Transit bus ticket directed to New York City and a menu from Peking Palace.

The business card Donohue mentioned had written on it the phrase “Drive me to Jamesway in North Cape May,” which was located in the same shopping center as the former Peking Palace.

A key was found in the yard of the house in North Cape May where the crime occurred. Douglass Jr. said once Ho’s apartment in New York’s Chinatown was located, the key was a perfect fit and gave investigators evidence to ask for a warrant.

After a two- to three-month investigation, aided by New York Police Department detectives on the Asian Crimes Investigation Team, police located Ho in Chinatown and, armed with a warrant, police were able to find the murder weapon.

He was charged with murder, aggravated arson and burglary. He pleaded guilty to the murder charge and was sentenced to life in prison.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.