Man Pleads Guilty To Biting Toms River Police Officer During Arrest

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An East Orange man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer after he bit a Toms River police officer on the hand during a narcotics arrest in 2021, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Marquis A. Belnavis, 29, pleaded guilty on June 5 possession of heroin with intent to distribute and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer in the July 9, 2021 incident in Toms River, before Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill in Toms River, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Belnavis additionally pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine in a Nov. 10, 2021 incident in Toms River and to distribution of cocaine in a series of incidents in Ocean Gate and Stafford Township from July 28, 2022 to Aug. 31, 2022, before Rahill on June 5, the prosecutor said.

In the July 9, 2021 incident, Belnavis was seen conducting drug deals with another person during surveillance by the Toms River Police Department's Special Enforcement Team, Billhimer said. Police pulled over a 2018 Nissan Altima, where Belnavis was the passenger, and detectives found he was in possession of an unspecified amount of heroin, the prosecutor said.

As police were arresting Belnavis, he bit one of the officers in the hand in an attempt to get away. He was arrested and taken to the Ocean County Jail, but later released due to bail reform, Billhimer said.

On Nov. 10, 2021, the Toms River Special Enforcement team was conducting surveillance on a home as part of a narcotics investigation and saw Belnavis going to and from the home, Billhimer said. The investigation found he had sold cocaine to an occupant of the home, the prosecutor said. Belnavis was arrested and again taken to the Ocean County Jail, and subsequently released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.

In the 2022 investigation by the prosecutor's office Narcotics Strike Force, Stafford Township Police Department Drug Enforcement Unit, Ocean Gate police and the Barnegat Township Police Department Crime Reduction Unit, authorities found Belnavis was selling cocaine in Stafford Township and Ocean Gate, and he was arrested Sept. 2, 2022, at a home in Ocean Gate.

He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since the Sept. 2, 2022, arrest, Billhimer said.

Billhimer said that under the plea agreement, the state will be requesting a four-year prison term in the July 2021 incident, three years in the November 2021 incident and seven years in the 2022 incident when Belnavis is sentenced, with the terms to run concurrently.

Belnavis is scheduled to be sentenced on July 28, 2023, Billhimer said.