Over half a year has passed since the Herald received information alleging there were two rapes involving teenagers on the Promenade in Sea Isle City over the Fourth of July weekend, and we can finally confirm that two sex assaults occurred and there was an arrest made a little over a week later.
Capt. Anthony Garreffi, officer in charge of the Sea Isle City Police Department, released the following in a Feb. 17 email: “On July 5, 2021, the Sea Isle City Police responded to a report of a sexual assault which occurred at 40th Street and the beach. During the on-scene investigation, Officers were informed by a second victim of sexual assault involving the same actor. A description was issued to Officers who were able to locate the suspect a short time later.
“After a thorough investigation by Sea Isle City Detectives, a juvenile was charged with two separate counts of Sex Assault with Force on July 14, 2021. The Juvenile was lodged in the Harborfields Atlantic Youth Center.
“The case was sent to Cape May County Family Division of the Superior Court.”
Why did it take so long for this information to be released?
After receiving the news tip back in July 2021, the Herald made multiple attempts to acquire the above through various means, including phone calls and emails to the city’s Police Chief Tom McQuillen and business administrator, which were met with radio silence. We also made Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests, which were inappropriately denied because the incidents involved juveniles.
Months passed, and the police department seemed unwavering in its decision not to release the information, so we published a column laying the facts out before the public.
That column was met with a response on the police department’s Facebook page by McQuillen, who essentially sought to explain why he was choosing not to comply with the law instead of just complying with the law, while also urging the public to question the validity of, and the motive for, our requests. He retired a few days later.
Knowing that we are entitled to the disclosure of general information about criminal incidents involving juveniles under OPRA, the Herald continued to consider other avenues of relief up until we were informed a closed-door meeting was to take place in Sea Isle Feb. 11 to “discuss issues of concern related to juveniles gathering in large groups – an occurrence that has been witnessed in numerous New Jersey shore towns during recent summers,” per a release from the city.
We felt this was the perfect opportunity to question the city publicly about the rape allegations and OPRA denials, since they obviously felt it was important enough to bring Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen (all R-1st), as well as Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland, mayors and other elected officials and various law enforcement leaders together to address the handling of juvenile crime.
The Herald was not allowed in the meeting, but subsequent interviews with those in attendance, by Herald reporter Shay Roddy, showed officials largely supported the public’s right to know about crimes involving juveniles, with identifying information redacted.
“Once the case is closed, then absolutely you should be able to know what occurred and how it occurred without giving the juveniles’ names,” Desiderio said at the time.
He helped facilitate a discussion between the Herald and Garreffi, in which Garreffi said he would have a further conversation with the city solicitor, but that he planned to make the police report we were seeking available to us with the appropriate redactions.
Garreffi didn’t give us the police report, writing, “NJSA 2A:4A-60 Disclosure of juvenile information, is clear when it reads: a. Social, medical, psychological, legal and other records of the court and probation division, and records of law enforcement agencies, pertaining to juveniles charged as a delinquent or found to be part of a juvenile-family crisis, shall be strictly safeguarded from public inspection.”
However, he provided us with the relevant information about the crimes, which is all we wanted in the first place.
We’re glad that we finally got here, and we commend Sea Isle for releasing the information to which the public is entitled.
However, this can’t be the process for acquiring this information moving forward. The public should not have to wait this long to get important public safety information.
We look forward to working with Sea Isle and other Cape May County municipalities to find a way to release information more effectively, not only on juvenile crimes, but all incidents that directly affect the safety of the community. We owe it to the people we serve.
ED. NOTE: Erin Ledwon is the managing editor of the Cape May County Herald.
