Councilwoman's Return 'Hardly Worth the Effort' for Short Meeting

Hopatcong Councilwoman Estelle Klein, the subject of media focus over her August shoplifting and resisting arrest charges, returned to her Borough Council seat for a brief Monday evening meeting that she called "hardly worth the effort," according to the New Jersey Herald.

The special meeting dealt with paying borough expenses, which required council approval, and lasted about six minutes, the article said. 

The 80-year-old Klein missed five Borough Council meetings in all following her August arrest, the Herald reported. On Oct. 1, she settled her charges of resisting arrest, eluding a police officer and shoplifting by aggreeeing to enter Pre-Trial Invervention, a program that will allow her to clear her criminal record through a combination of serving two years of probation and 50 hours of community service.

The councilwoman was accused of leaving the Netcong Shop Rite supermarket in August with $40.34 in unpaid food items, including filet mignon and guacamole and then leading police on a "low-speed chase" before being stopped and arrested in Roxbury.