Ex-Superintendent Admits To Pooping Under Holmdel Bleachers

HOLMDEL, NJ — The ex-Kenilworth superintendent accused of pooping last spring near the Holmdel High School track and football field admitted in court Wednesday that he has a medical condition that affects his bowel movements when he runs.

Thomas Tramaglini of Aberdeen pleaded guilty in court to one of the non-criminal municipal offenses he was charged with – defecating in public – and will pay a $500 fine. He pleaded guilty to one instance of public defecation on May 1, and it happened under the bleachers near the football field, his lawyer Matt Adams said.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges of lewdness and littering, Mary Lou Donnelly the Holmdel court administrator, confirmed to Patch. As a result of his guilty plea, Tramaglini had to appear in Holmdel municipal court Wednesday.

Tramaglini's attorney, Matt Adams, said his client was diagnosed with a medical condition known as runner's diarrhea. Adams said that Tramaglini has been evaluated by doctors since his arrest. Adams also said that Tramaglini, his family and even Adams himself have all received death threats in the months following this saga.

A local Monmouth County long-distance running expert, Doug Rice, president of the Sandy Hookers Triathlon Club, speculated as much in this Patch article when Tramaglini was first arrested this past May.

Tramaglini is a serious runner, having completed the New York City marathon in 2010 with an impressive finish time of 03:48:25.

As pictured above, port-a-potties are just yards away from the Holmdel track and football field, but Adams said told NJ.com his client "was not certain he would have made it even if he did (know they existed)."

Tramaglini, who lives just a few miles away in Aberdeen and used the track for his early-morning runs, was arrested at 5:50 a.m. Monday, April 30, after the Holmdel school resource officer put up cameras that allegedly caught him in the act.

Holmdel police said the track team was stumbling over human feces "on a daily basis." Used baby wipes were also allegedly found at the scene, hence the littering charge. But Tramaglini admitted today in court to only one instance of public defecation, on May 1.

Tramaglini was first suspended and then resigned from his $147,504-a-year job as superintendent of the Kenilworth school system. His legal team now intends to sue the Holmdel police department for releasing his mugshot after his arrest. Holmdel police normally do not release mugshots.

"He's been through hell and back," his lawyer said. "He deserves a story that tells the accurate picture."

Most people familiar with running know about the unfortunate medical phenomenon of suddenly, very urgently, having to empty bowels in the middle of a run. It even has nicknames: Runners' trots. Mud butt.

A Colorado woman nicknamed "the Mad Pooper" apologized to a neighboring family after she repeatedly pooped on their lawn during her morning runs.

Sudden gastrointestinal upset is also really more about what you eat the night before, Rice said. His company, Split-Second Racing, times marathons up and down the Jersey Shore and in New York.

"I've been in situations training for an Ironman where we all pigged out on ribs the night before," he laughed. "And yeah, that sent us into the woods the next day."

Photo of Thomas Tramaglini in Holmdel municipal court taken by Carly Baldwin/Patch. Photo of the Holmdel High track taken by Carly Baldwin/Patch.

Editor's Note: Patch incorrectly reported this story that Tramaglini admitted to public defecation multiple times on the Holmdel High track and football field. He admitted to one instance of this occurring, on May 1, underneath the football field bleachers.