Barnegat Mayor Wants Reimbursement For Escaped Convict Search

It took a week to find escaped baby killer Arthur Buckel back in May.

Barnegat Township bore the bulk of municipal overtime costs at almost $30,000. And Mayor John Novak wants it back, according to nj.com.

"I would hope, with a similar diligence and a similar sense of urgency, the (DOC) will process our fair and reasonable request," Novak said. "The good people of Barnegat would like to be reimbursed for their cost, it's only fair."

It cost state and local law enforcement a total of $180,472 for state and local law enforcement to corral Buckel. Most of the expenses were incurred by the state Department of Corrections, which supplied officers and led the search.

Buckel escaped on May 3 and was captured on May 9, just off Exit 77 on the Garden State Parkway. Exit 77 is on the border of Double Trouble State Park in Bayville. The park contains thousands of acres of heavily-wooded land.

Corrections Department spokesman Matthew Schuman has said the agency has a longstanding mutual aid agreement with municipalities across the state when help is needed.

"This mutual aid agreement has not included financial reimbursement in instances when another law enforcement entity provides assistance to this department," Schuman said.

Barnegat is the only law enforcement agency to request reimbursement, he said.

Buckel, 38, who had been at Bayside State Prison after sentencing on a burglary conviction, is the same man convicted of slapping a 10-month-old Barnegat girl to death on Labor Day weekend in 1995, Hudson County court officials and the state Department of Corrections have said.

To read the entire story and see a breakdown of the search costs, click here.