NJ Man Who Painted Blue Line Charged As 'Possible Explosive' Shuts Road At Courthouse

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man who was indicted last summer on charges of threatening Toms River Town Hall and the Ocean County Courthouse has been charged with causing a false public alarm in an incident that shut down Hooper Avenue Saturday night, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

David R. Giordano, 37, was arrested Monday at a Belleville hospital following a crash on the Garden State Parkway, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Giordano first drew attention to himself by painting a blue line down Hooper Avenue in March 2021, using paint he is accused of shoplifting from Home Depot while driving his bucket truck, which authorities said he stole from an impound lot.

Authorities say Giordano caused alarm on Saturday night, this time with a string of blue LED Christmas lights left on Hooper Avenue.

On Saturday, Toms River police responding to a report about 9 p.m. of a suspicious item found a string of blue LED Christmas lights, with one end plugged into a power inverter attached to a car battery, and the other end attached to a Clorox bleach bottle containing liquid, Billhimer said.

The device was set up in the center of Hooper Avenue between the Ocean County Courthouse and the Ocean County Administration Building, he said.

Out of concern that it might be an explosive Hooper Avenue was shut down from Madison Avenue to Washington Street, Billhimer said.

Investigators from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, New Jersey State Police Bomb Unit, and Berkeley Township Hazardous Materials Unit were able to determine it was not an improvised explosive device, he said.

Their investigation revealed Giordano was responsible for putting the device in the road, Billhimer said.

Giordano has had numerous run-ins with police over the years. After the line-painting incident, Toms River police released a list of more than 200 times they had contact with Giordano, including 20 times he was arrested.

In an email about 8:30 p.m. Saturday to more than two dozen reporters, Giordano announced the light display, saying:

"We stand for Blue Lives matter I am pro-police. However, there are some bad apples. I will continue My support for the police. By lighting up the town with blue lights. Until they arrest me for it. Blue lights represent cops, but not all cops. It represents the good cops. When the blue line was painted on Hooper Ave. no one understood why Someone that hates police Would support the police. It is time for the state of New Jersey to take notice that police brutality and cover-ups of police brutality are over." He closed the email by saying he and another person were responsible for the light display.

Giordano also sent multiple photos of the light display to the Toms River Patch on Saturday night.

No one else has been charged in the incident.

Billhimer said a warrant was issued Sunday for Giordano's arrest. He was arrested Monday after he was taken to a Belleville hospital following a Parkway crash near Bloomfield. Toms River police arrested him at the hospital.

During a search incidental to his arrest, police officers found Giordano in possession of alprazolam, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia, and he faces drug possession charges as a result.

He is being held in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Giordano was indicted in August on charges of terroristic threats and false public alarm in connection with videos posted to YouTube in April 2021 that included a statement that the person posting the video would turn Toms River Town Hall and the Ocean County Justice Complex "upside down," Billhimer said at the time.

The videos, uploaded to a YouTube channel titled "Toms River Police are the Best," included images of Giordano, news coverage of Giordano's arrest in connection with painting a blue line on Hooper Avenue, images of the Ocean County Justice Complex as well as Toms River Town Hall, followed by a video of a homemade bulldozer destroying public buildings in Granby, Colorado, in 2004.

Giordano was arrested in March 2021 after authorities say he stole his bucket truck from an impound lot, then painted a blue line down Hooper Avenue using paint he stole from Home Depot, police said.

That case, which was moved to Monmouth County because the threats were directed at the Ocean County judiciary, is still pending, the prosecutor's office said.

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