Brick Man Pleads Guilty To Weapons Charge

BRICK, NJ — A Brick Township man has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a handgun that was discovered during an investigation in 2024, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Justin M. Holden, 42, pled guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a handgun before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer on Friday in Toms River, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The charge was in connection with search warrants executed on Feb. 27, 2024, at a home on Rocky Mountain Boulevard and on a vehicle Holden owned as part of an ongoing investigation, the prosecutor's office said. The circumstances of that investigation were not disclosed.

The search resulted in the seizure of a Glock G43 9mm handgun that had been reported stolen out of Georgia, and hollow point ammunition, authorities said.

Holden was charged and his name was entered into the National Crime Information Center Database, the prosecutor's office said, and he was arrested by Brick police on March 11, 2024. He was taken to the Ocean County Jail and later released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.

Holden, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22, is being held in the jail on an unrelated matter.

The prosecutor's office will be seeking a five-year prison sentence with 42 months of parole ineligibility at sentencing.