Man's Tweets Threatened Suicide On Freehold City Hall Steps: MCPO

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Freehold Township man who is awaiting trial on child pornography charges has been charged with making online threats, after he allegedly tweeted and attempted to place an ad threatening to kill himself on the steps of Freehold's city hall, the Monmouth County prosecutor's office said Monday.

Ronald J. Charles, 54, has been charged with a second-degree count of false public alarm and a fourth-degree count of contempt for the tweets that were posted Dec. 3 by the Twitter handle NJSuxx, Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

Gramiccioni said investigators learned the Twitter account was associated with Charles. Charles additionally tried to place an advertisement with Patch that made similar threats.

The Twitter account has since been set to private, but copies of the tweets showed Charles had threatened to kill himself on the steps of city hall in Freehold on Dec. 14, using both a firearm and threatening to cut his wrists, and accused the prosecutor's office of "hinder(ing) the outcome of a criminal case. What they did was unethical & illegal."

"My last wish is for a pig to die on the same day I kill myself," the tweets said. "It would make my death a lot more pleasurable."

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Charles, the owner of the now-closed Galaxy Gymnastics who is awaiting trial on child pornography charges, is not allowed to use the internet under terms of his release on bail in connection with those charges. He was arrested in December 2015 following an investigation that led to the seizure of a computer from Charles' home office.

An examination of that computer revealed numerous images of child pornography; he was indicted in May 2018 on one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for possession of child pornography, Gramiccioni said. (Read more: Freehold Gymnastics School Owner Indicted On Child Porn Charge)

Charles was arrested Thursday, Dec. 6, in connection with the Dec. 3 tweets and is being held at the Monmouth County jail. His first appearance and detention hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday in Monmouth County Superior Court before Judge James J. McGann.

Gramiccioni said the state's false public alarm statute was amended in 2016 to strengthen the penalties associated with a conviction when there is the report of an impending bomb, hostage situation, a person is armed with a deadly weapon, or there is any other incident that elicits an immediate or heightened response by law enforcement or emergency services. He said he sought the amendment, which was passed with the assistance of former state Sen. Jennifer Beck and other state legislators.

The case has been assigned to Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Dugan.

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