TOMS RIVER, NJ – A bombshell lawsuit filed on March 17 in Ocean County Superior Court has rocked the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, alleging that a former police officer and assistant fire chief, Robert Sinnott, handcuffed and sexually abused young volunteer firefighters over decades.
The incident comes as rumors in the community swirled about multiple other instances of wrongdoings, including a second lawsuit regarding company leadership.
The 95-page complaint, brought by three current and former volunteers identified only as John Does 1, 2, and 3, claims Sinnott exploited his authority to groom, assault, and intimidate recruits under the guise of training exercises.
The suit also accuses the Silverton fire department, along with local officials, of negligence and enabling a culture of complicity that allowed the abuse to persist.
The allegations draw unsettling parallels to earlier controversies involving the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company, notably the 2016 case of George Peters v. Silverton Volunteer Fire Company No. 1. In that lawsuit, plaintiff George Peters, a former volunteer firefighter, claimed he was wrongfully expelled from the company after uncovering adverse information about members, including disputes with former chief and president Kevin Geoghegan and others.
Peters alleged violations of the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), constitutional due process rights, and civil conspiracy, pointing to a pattern of retaliation and institutional dysfunction. The case, ultimately dismissed on summary judgment, spotlighted tensions within the organization and raised questions about leadership accountability—issues that resurface in the current lawsuit against Sinnott.
Adding fuel to the fire. a prominent figure tied to Silverton’s leadership, Kevin Geoghegan, is indirectly implicated in the broader narrative of mismanagement in the Peters lawsuit.
While the current lawsuit does not name Geoghegan as a defendant in the latest lawsuit, his longstanding role within Silverton’s fire and first aid operations tie them to the organization’s troubled history. Geoghegan served as president under Sinnott.
The alleged homosexual sex scandal among firefighters and police officers is sending shockwaves throughout the tight-knit, conservative-leaning community.
Kevin Geoghegan, a retired Toms River police sergeant and former township councilman, has served as assistant chief of the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company and business administrator of the Silverton Volunteer First Aid Squad.
The Sinnott lawsuit alleges that the abuse occurred “in full view of other members” at the firehouse, suggesting a systemic failure to address misconduct.
This echoes Peters’ claims of a retaliatory culture a decade earlier, where he faced expulsion after challenging the status quo—an expulsion upheld by a membership vote that included Kevin Geoghegan’s influence as a key figure in the organization.
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Meanwhile, Toms River Township is grappling with a separate but related scandal involving Kevin Geoghegan. In a lawsuit filed on October 21, 2024, the township accuses the Silverton Volunteer First Aid Squad, managed by Geoghegan, of improperly using 24,000 gallons of township-provided gasoline and withholding insurance reimbursements worth up to $750,000 under a 2019 shared services agreement.
The complaint alleges “official misconduct” by Geoghegan, claiming he even fueled his personal vehicle with township gas—a charge he has dared officials to pursue criminally. The township has referred the matter to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, and the fallout has already seen Silverton EMS stripped of its dispatching privileges in July 2024, leading to the layoff of 30 EMTs.
The convergence of these cases paints a disturbing picture of Silverton’s volunteer organizations.
The Sinnott lawsuit details horrific acts—forced handcuffing, groping, and simulated police demonstrations turned sexually explicit—allegedly ignored by leadership for over 20 years.
One volunteer reported the abuse to Silverton Chief John Keating Jr. and Toms River Fire District 2 officials in 2023, only to face harassment and inaction, according to the complaint.
Similarly, Peters’ 2011 expulsion followed his attempts to expose internal irregularities, met with resistance from figures like Kevin Geoghegan, who was then a rising leader in the fire company.
Kevin Geoghegan has denied wrongdoing in the fuel theft allegations, but the township is seeking to recoup its losses.
As Toms River investigates the fuel and service charge theft—estimated at over $72,000—and the courts weigh the Sinnott lawsuit’s claims of abuse and cover-up, the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company and First Aid Squad face a reckoning.
The plaintiffs in the Sinnott case seek compensatory and punitive damages for years of trauma, while the township demands millions in restitution from Silverton EMS. Together, these cases suggest a legacy of unchecked power and institutional failures, with Geoghegan’s involvement linking past and present controversies in a community demanding answers.
