Hoboken Harassment Case Involving Officials, Residents Reaches Conclusion

HOBOKEN, NJ — A harassment case brought by several Hoboken residents and officials, who said a politically involved man sent them threatening packages, has been resolved.

According to a Friday report in the Hudson County View, Matt Majer, who was part of a team of people who opposed a 2022 referendum to build a new Hoboken High School, was accused of anonymously sending racially charged, sexually suggestive, and threatening messages to those who favored the Mayor Ravi Bhalla-supported referendum.

The packages were sent in February 2022, shortly after the Board of Education’s $241 million high school referendum failed 2-1, even though Majer's side achieved their desired outcome.

After many months of trying to reach a conclusion, Majer pleaded guilty to the harassment of resident Kim Gerlach, who is not a Hoboken official.

Majer also admitted under oath to committing similar acts of harassment to Mayor Bhalla, Council President Emily Jabbour, and Nancy Pincus.

In the court transcript, Majer acknowledges that his purpose in sending the anonymous packages was "to annoy" the recipients.

Majer also was accused of sending packages and messages anonymously to Councilman Phil Cohen and the mayor's brother Amardeep Singh Bhalla, the officials said on Monday in a press release — though Majer’s guilty plea was sufficient for Cohen and Amardeep Singh Bhalla to forego the allocution in their cases.

Like Gerlach, Amardeep Bhalla is not a town official.

According to the court transcript, the mail sent to Amardeep Bhalla had "MAGA" inserted between his first and last name. The officials who received the packages are Democrats, although Hoboken elections are non-partisan, as was the school referendum.

Officials noted that the messages sent to both Bhallas had been translated into Hindi, even though Mayor Bhalla doesn't speak the language.

"In the case of Mayor Bhalla and myself, the messages were partially in Hindi, an obvious reference to our faith and nationality," Amardeep Singh Bhalla said in a release sent out by a political consultant who works with the mayor. "Neither the mayor nor I speak Hindi, as we were both born in the United States. These hateful messages were disturbing to my family and the families of the other victims."

The court transcript and a social media post note that at least one message referred to the recipient's children.

In a social media post about what happened, Council President Emily Jabbour noted that she found on her own doorstep an Amazon package containing a book titled "How to Stop Lying: The Strategic Guide For Compulsive and Pathological Liars."

She said it came with a note that read: "Please stop spreading lies and stand up for yourself. Show your children how best to behave else you be exposed too. It is coming."

It was then that Jabbour contacted Amazon, who identified the sender as Majer, she said in her post.

Majer is not a town official nor a political candidate, but was the founder of a group called "Concerned Citizens Information Exchange" that became active to defeat the school referendum in January 2022. He also runs a "Hoboken Uptown" Facebook page.

After Jabbour received the anonymous package and messages, she filed a report with the Hoboken Police Department.

"I find it deeply disturbing that a resident would go to such lengths to send a threat to my doorstep invoking racially charged sentiments and attacking me as a mother," Jabbour said. "This person has a long history of attacking me on social media and to see this attack escalate to this level is a violation of my sense of safety in a community that I stood up to support and protect as a public servant."

Majer's attorney, Joseph Maurice, argued that politics had become heated on the national level, right up to the presidency, but Secaucus Municipal Court Judge Karen Boylan did not appear to accept that explanation.

She spoke directly to Majer in court, referencing the fact that he took the time to translate the messages into Hindi, and other matters.

"I just know that you present yourself as a good citizen, right, committed to your town and concerned about the fiscal responsibility or whatever your issues were, right, which are logical and rational; and then you behave like a fourth grader, right?" Boylan said. "I mean truly like a fourth grader."

She noted that the carrying out of these acts was not a split-second decision.

Majer entered into a 12-month conditional dismissal program, which will give him a clean record if he stays out of legal trouble for a year, according to the Hudson County View report.

Patch reached out to Majer for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.

READ MORE: Hoboken School Referendum Defeated Amid Lopsided Results