BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ – Brick Police officers have charged a township resident for beating his granddaughter with the handle of a garden rake. The criminal case has since been referred to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office after the man identified as L.M. was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and assault.
The identity of the suspect is not being published at this time in order to protect the identity of the abused child.
Police responded to the Greenwood Loop home to investigate the matter and found cause to arrest, and charged the 58-year-old man for the attack against a 14-year-old girl.
According to Brick Police Office M. Rienstra, the victim, a minor identified as the suspect’s granddaughter, was violently assaulted by her grandfather.
“Having legal duty for the care of [victim], cause [victim] harm thereby making him an abused or neglected child as defined in Chapter 6 of Title 9 of the New Jersey Statutes,” Brick Township Police Patrolman Rienstra stated in his complaint. “Specifically by striking the juvenile victim several times about the body with the wooden handle of a metal garden rake, resulting in the complaint of pain.”
Rienstra, in his report, stated that the grandfather “Committed aggravated assault by recklessly causing bodily injury to [the juvenile] with a deadly weapon.”
An affidavit for probable cause signed by the Toms River Municipal Court read, “The defendant, who is the juvenile victim’s grandfather and caregiver, assaulted her several times with the wooden handle of a garden rake. The victim had a complaint of pain as a result of being hit by the rake.”
Police said a witness provided cell phone video evidence to responding officers that captured a part of the assault against the young girl.
The young girl told police she had pain in her head, hip, and leg after the attack.
The man was processed and granted pretrial release in accordance with the New Jersey Bail Reform Act.
Records show the suspect has a long rap sheet that includes several prior drug charges and arrests.
