Police Blotter

BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ – On Thursday, Donna Jung, 57, of Lehigh Acres, Florida, and Helecia Morris, 41, of Brick Township, were found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child. This follows incidents that occurred between April 1, 2015 and January 9, 2016, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.

On the evening of January 9, 2016, officers from the Brick Township Police Department, accompanied by representatives from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, conducted a wellness check on Morris’s 8-year-old son at a Queen Ann Road residence. The responding officers reported finding the child confined to a room in deplorable conditions that also emitted a strong odor of urine. The 8-year-old boy, along with two other minor children, were immediately removed from the residence and medically evaluated at Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township. Subsequently, all three children were placed in foster care.

The boy was reportedly denied access to the home’s bathroom and was isolated from the rest of the family. The room he was kept in was devoid of bed, furniture, lights, or toys. On January 11, 2016, following a court-authorized search of the residence, Jung and Morris were arrested, transported to the Ocean County Jail, and subsequently released on bail.

Jung and Morris face a sentence of up to ten years in New Jersey State Prison at the hearing scheduled for July 7, 2023, with Judge Lisa A. Puglisi presiding. Following the guilty verdict, both were remanded into custody and will remain in the Ocean County Jail until the sentencing hearing.