Ocean City Cop Turned U.S. Marshal's Story Told On Stage

CAPE MAY, NJ — Jim Plousis has had a lengthy and storied career, from being an Ocean City Cop, to being the country's youngest county sheriff, to serving as a United States Marshal. Watch his 40-year law enforcement career on stage this month in Cape May.

A one-night-only encore staged reading of “Jersey Lawman: A Life on the Right Side of Crime,” based on a memoir written by Plousis and George Ingram, will be presented by East Lynne Theater Company at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15. Adapted for the stage by Thomas Raniszewski, the play tells Plousis's story as he rose from patrolman to Cape May County sheriff to his nomination to the U.S. Marshal by then-President George W. Bush.

Plousis, a Cape May County native, was the youngest-ever county sheriff at the time in America when he was just 32. Now serving as chairman of the Casino Control Commission, he had to be convinced by friend and neighbor Ingram to write his memoir. He agreed, then donating the proceeds to the U.S. Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund, which pays for funerals of those killed in service, among other things.

Plousis’ story, which Ingram wrote as Plousis provided background over six years, regales the exciting and often notorious cases, issues and people with which his career involved him. Names like President Donald J. Trump, Bernie Madoff, Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie feature prominently, as do events such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.

Family friend Raniszewski, whose dad worked with Plousis early in his career, came up with the idea of turning the memoir into a staged reading and bringing it to East Lynne. There have been multiple benefit performances, beginning in April 2024. Sadly, Ingram died in 2021 and did not live to see how widespread the memoir has become.

Performers include: Eddie Castagnetta, Alisa Cooper, Ken Hornbeck, Mat Labotka, Thomas Raniszewski, and Brendan Schaffer. Proceeds will benefit Garden State Concerns for Police Survivors, as well as the nonprofit East Lynne Theater Company. More information can be found at EastLynneTheater.org. Admission is pay-what- you-will; no reservations are necessary. The staged reading of “Jersey Lawman: A Life on the Right Side of Crime,” adapted and directed by Raniszewski, will take place 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at East Lynne’s Clemans Theater for the Arts, 717 Franklin St. in Cape May.