Joe Fitzgerald Reinstated To Middletown School Board

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Joe Fitzgerald, who was arrested June 30 and charged with six illegal gun crimes, is now back on the Middletown school board.

This was confirmed Thursday by Middletown Board Of Education vice president Jacqueline Tobacco.

After Fitzgerald was arrested, the Middletown school board suspended him in July, saying Fitzgerald was unable to attend any Board of Education meetings until the criminal charges against him are resolved. He was designated a persona non grata on the board effective July 2.

However, Fitzgerald hired a lawyer and challenged that determination. The case went to Monmouth County Chancery court, and a chancery court judge ruled last Friday that Fitzgerald could be fully reinstated to the elected board.

"The suspension referred to a policy that doesn't exist, at least to an elected official," Fitzgerald said Thursday.

Fitzgerald also said he plans on attending the next Middletown school board meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 30. He is also still running for school board re-election this November.

Fitzgerald maintains he was headed home the evening he was arrested and not — as Monmouth County prosecutors allege — to the home of a woman he is accused of having an affair with, with the intent of having a confrontation with her husband.

Fitzgerald's wife texted the woman's husband to warn him Fitzgerald was headed to their home — and that he was armed, prosecutors say. She was also the one who called police.

Atlantic Highlands Police first pulled over Fitzgerald's blue pick-up truck and then called Middletown Police to the scene, who showed up minutes later. Police said they found one handgun and three other weapons in the truck: A loaded Ruger LCP .380 handgun (which police say Fitzgerald could not produce a permit for at the scene), two dart or spring projectile guns and a stun gun in the shape of brass knuckles, with a Taser component on it.

The woman's husband says that same blue pick-up, with an American flag in the back, previously followed him into the parking lot of the Lincroft Acme.

Fitzgerald disputes the allegations. He said an Atlantic Highlands incident report shows he was headed home that evening, and not to the other man's house. This week, Atlantic Highlands Police refused to release that report to Patch, saying it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Fitzgerald is charged with multiple counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon and one count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

He is next due in Monmouth County criminal court at 9 a.m. Sept. 15 for a procedural hearing, in Judge English's courtroom.

Middletown School Board Member Joe Fitzgerald Arrested On Illegal Gun Charges (July 1)

Joe Fitzgerald Suspended From Middletown School Board Due To Criminal Charges (July 8)

Affair Was Behind Arrest Of Middletown BOE Member Joe Fitzgerald, Prosecutor Says (July 11)

Middletown BOE Member Joe Fitzgerald Hires 2nd Amendment Rights Lawyer To Defend His Case (Aug. 7)

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