Man Pleads Guilty In UTV Drunk Driving Crash That Killed Friend In Manchester

MANCHESTER, NJ — Almost five years after his UTV flipped over in a lake at the Heritage Minerals site in Manchester and killed his friend, a Howell Township man has pleaded guilty in the fatal crash, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Stephen McGuire, 48, pleaded guilty on Monday before Superior Court Judge David M. Fritch to strict liability vehicular homicide and endangering the welfare of a child in the Dec. 12, 2020 crash that killed James Grover, 62, also of Howell.

McGuire is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 9, at which time prosecutors will be seeking a 3-year prison term, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

"This plea agreement was reached only after extensive discussions with the family of Mr. Grover, who expressed an unequivocal desire to extend mercy to this defendant," Billhimer said. "Their compassionate and forgiving nature brings this very difficult chapter to a close and permits the healing process to begin; we hope this resolution provides Mr. Grover’s family with some level of peace."

McGuire was driving a UTV — utility terrain vehicle — along with a group of people at the Heritage Minerals site off Route 70 in Manchester about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2020, with Grover and three children as his passengers when McGuire crashed into Crystal Lake at the center of the site, authorities said.

McGuire and the three children escaped, but Grover remained under water with the UTV, which was submerged in about 25 feet of water, authorities said. Members of the group and the other passengers tried to find Grover, to no avail.

Manchester Township Police and members of the Manchester, Ridgeway, and Whiting Volunteer fire companies conducted an underwater dive search-and-rescue operation and found the UTV overturned with Grover still attached to it by his safety harness, authorities said.

Grover was removed from his safety harness, and life-saving measures were performed by Manchester Township Emergency Medical Technicians and Robert Wood Johnson paramedics,but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

McGuire was arrested Jan. 5, 2021, after results of a blood draw showed a blood-alcohol concentration of .127 percent following the crash, more than 50 percent above the legal limit. He was later released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.

McGuire was indicted in January 2022 on charges of vehicular homicide and strict liability vehicular homicide, along with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said at the time.

The crash happened as Manchester Township police, along with other law enforcement agencies, were battling persistent issues of trespassing at the 7,000-acre property that is privately owned. Law enforcement agencies and the property owner, Hovnanian Corporation, have taken additional steps in recent years to try to deter and prevent trespassing, issuing hundreds of tickets, confiscating ATVs and UTVs and more because of deaths at the site.

The property originally was operated by the American Smelting and Refining Company, also known as ASARCO, as a mineral mining site. It later was owned and operated by Heritage Minerals until the mining operations stopped in the early 1980s.

The property is popular with ATV riders and has been a magnet for swimmers, but has been the site of several fatalities, including swimmers lured by the water that fills the former mining pits.

The pits appear to be lakes, but they are actually filled with water from groundwater aquifers, water that is much colder than typical lakes that are stream-fed. Because they were mining pits, the shorelines and lake bottoms are not stable, and there have been multiple incidents.