NJ Man, Father Indicted In Fatal Pontoon Boat Crash In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Towaco man and his father have been indicted in connection with a pontoon boat crash in June 2021 that killed a Whippany man and injured six other people, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Juan A. Fernandez II, 19, was indicted on charges of death by vessel, strict liability vehicular homicide and assault by vessel the June 13 pontoon boat crash on Barnegat Bay in Toms River that killed Corey Molinari, 19, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

His father, Juan A. Fernandez Sr., 59, of Towaco, was indicted on a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution, Billhimer said. Authorities said he lied to investigators who spoke to him during the investigation.

The crash was reported at 1:13 a.m. June 13, New Jersey State Police said. The investigation found Fernandez was driving a 2014 Bennington pontoon boat in Barnegat Bay when he hit concrete Intracoastal Waterway Marker No. 26 head-on, police said.

After the crash, Fernandez was able to navigate the vessel to Antiqua Avenue, where he met Toms River police and first responders, police said.

Two people, including Molinari, were thrown from the boat. He suffered serious bodily injury including severe head trauma and was flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he died of his injuries. At least four other people on the boat were treated on scene for various injuries, authorities said.

Initially, Fernandez told authorities there were six people on the boat, but detectives later determined there had been nine people on the boat before the crash, police said. Three of them had been let off the boat just before the crash, police said.

Billhimer said detectives learned Fernandez II had been drinking alcohol while driving the boat; he was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he consented to a draw of his blood at approximately 9:32 a.m., more than eight hours after the crash.

The toxicology tests showed Fernandez II had a blood alcohol content of .037 percent, Billhimer said. Robert J. Pandina, Ph.D, a forensic psycho-pharmacologist, analyzed the toxicology findings and concluded "through extrapolation analysis" that his blood alcohol content at the time of the crash would have been between .13 percent and .15 percent percent, Billhimer said.

In New Jersey, a person is presumed to be over the legal limit with a blood alcohol content of .08 or greater.

An investigation by the New Jersey State Police Troop “C” Criminal Investigation Office, New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit determined that Fernandez II was the operator of the pontoon boat when the boat struck the concrete channel marker.

Fernandez II was arrested Sept. 9, 2021, without incident and taken to the New Jersey State Police Tuckerton Station to be processed, then to the Ocean County Jail, and later released as a consequence of New Jersey bail reform.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Robert Cassidy is handling the case. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, New Jersey State Police Troop “C” Criminal Investigation Office, New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and Toms River Police Department investigated.