COVID-Defiant NJ Gym Owners Must Pay $124K In Fines

BELLMAWR, NJ — The owners of a South Jersey gym, who became infamous for defying New Jersey's COVID-19 orders, must pay a six-figure fine for the conduct, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, who owned Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, appealed the $123,982 that stemmed from violating the state's shutdown orders in 2020. But the three-judge panel ruled against Atilis Gym, finding the business's arguments had "no substantive merit," according to a court opinion issued Wednesday.

Smith and Trumbetti gained national notoriety when they chose not to follow a mandate from Gov. Phil Murphy that ordered the closure of all gyms and many other institutions in the first six months of the pandemic. In July 2020, the pair were arrested for defying the pandemic orders. One week later, they kicked in a plywood barricade to reopen the gym.

The state followed by asking the courts to fine them $15,000 per day that they violated the executive orders. The appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that the gym was bound to the public-health-emergency orders and must pay the fines.

Smith, who calls himself a "Domestic Terrorist" on Twitter, said last October that he signed sale papers and his resignation at Atilis Gym. He ran for the House of Representatives last year in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District, falling short in the Republican primary with 38.3 percent of the vote. Following the loss, Smith left the GOP for the Libertarian Party.

In 2008, when Smith was 20 years old, he was convicted and sentenced to more than five years in prison for causing a drunk driving crash that killed a Galloway teenager.

Smith was charged in March 2022 with driving while intoxicated in Cinnaminson. The charge was dropped after he pleaded guilty to other traffic offenses and admitted to refusing to take a breathalyzer test.