Ocean County Prosecutor Interfered In Toms River Police Issues, Mayor Alleges

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick has filed a lawsuit against the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office alleging intereference in the mayor's oversight and control of the Toms River Police Department.

In the 16-page lawsuit filed Friday in Superior Court in Mercer County, Rodrick alleges interference from Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and First Assistant Prosecutor Michael T. Nolan on several occasions since Rodrick took office on Jan. 1, 2024.

The lawsuit also names New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport as a defendant, though it does not allege direct interference by the attorney general's office.

Messages seeking comment from the prosecutor's office and the state attorney general's office were not answered. According to the case docket, neither agency had been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday.

The lawsuit, which also lists business administrator Jonathan Salonis as a plaintiff, alleges the interference began in February 2024 when Rodrick fired Jillian Messina, who had been the public information officer for the Toms River Police Department.

In her role as the public information officer, Messina (who has a wrongful termination lawsuit pending against the township) was one of the administrators on the police department's Facebook page. According to the lawsuit, Salonis had ordered then-Police Chief Mitch Little to make Phil Stilton — whom Rodrick had hired as the township's public information officer — an administrator on the page, as Rodrick sought to consolidate the public information roles into one.

Not long after, the prosecutor's office issued a directive to Little and to Toms River denying Stilton and Salonis access to the administrative functions of the Facebook page — a directive the lawsuit alleges violates Salonis's authority as business administrator. According to Toms River ordinance, the business administrator oversees all of the other departments in the township.

Sometime later Salonis was allowed access as a moderator on the page under an agreement with the prosecutor's office and Little, the lawsuit says, but only as a moderator and never as an administrator.

Salonis's access was removed from the page recently, the lawsuit says, but it is unclear when he was removed.

Salonis has been on a temporary leave from his position as business administrator since mid-January, something announced publicly by Rodrick, with no set date for his return, though the lawsuit implies he may be full-time in the role again.

The removal of Salonis's access prompted the township administration to ask current Police Chief Guy Maire about it, and Maire questioned the lieutenant who was believed to be an administrator on the page, the lawsuit says.

Shortly after that, "OCPO sent a correspondence addressed to Mayor Rodrick indicating it was 'superseding' the 'administration's investigation' pursuant to the Attorney General's Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures," the lawsuit says.

"The Administration is unaware why OCPO came to the determination that the Township was conducting a formal investigation into 'misconduct' on the part of any officer or any other employee of the TRPD."

"However, even if there was an investigation of potential misconduct given these circumstances, OCPO is well aware that it would involve a minor infraction as opposed to a crime or more serious one that would require OCPO's involvement," the lawsuit says. "OCPO's meddling in this minor personnel issue is nothing more than an attempt for it to act as labor counsel for the Lieutenant involved ..."

In New Jersey, county prosecutor's offices oversee municipal police departments but generally are not involved in the day-to-day operations.

In addition to the Facebook issue, the lawsuit alleges the prosecutor's office blocked Salonis from having a police dispatch radio, after then-Acting Police Chief Peter Sundack refused to provide Salonis a radio on the advice of the prosecutor's office that said only sworn law enforcement personnel should have one.

The lawsuit called it "at best, nonsensical, and at worst, disingenuous" the contention that police dispatch radios should only be given to sworn officers, saying there are multiple other people, such as EMTs and fire personnel, who have the radios. One such person, the lawsuit said, is Baruch "Booky" Kaluszyner, leader of the Toms River Jewish Community Council, had been provided with a radio, as an example of someone non-law enforcement in possession of one.

The other matter where Rodrick alleges interference is the issuance of a statement by Billhimer in July 2025 over an ordinance that changed Toms River's hiring requirements for police candidates.

At the time Billhimer said the changes, which require a two-year college degree or military service instead of the previous requirement of a bachelor's degree, pose "a serious risk to public safety, community trust and the integrity of the profession."

Rodrick, both at the time of Billhimer's statement and in the lawsuit, said the prosecutor ignored the fact that detectives in the prosecutor's office were only required to have a high school degree.

Rodrick stated the reason for the change in the requirements was to draw more veterans to apply to become sworn police officers. He also has said changes to the hiring rules would allow Toms River to hire police officers with experience away from other jurisdictions.

The lawsuit demands the township administration be made an adminstrator on the police department's Facebook page and be given a police dispatch radio, and that the prosecutor's office be ordered to "refrain from interfering in personnel investigations instituted by the Township's Administration and Chief of Police."

You can read the lawsuit here.