Driver In Severe DUI Crash On Route 70 In Toms River Sentenced

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Jackson Township man has been sentenced to consecutive 10-year prison terms in a 2023 crash on Route 70 that seriously injured a young girl, and a weapons charge, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Charles J. Sharkey Jr., 35, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari to 10 years on the aggravated assault charge in the March 23, 2023, crash on Route 70 at Massachusetts Avenue. A then 4-year-old girl was seriously injured in the crash but survived, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Sharkey pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault charge and to driving under the influence on Oct. 21, admitting that he used methamphetamine before the crash. The 10-year sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act, requiring he serve 85 percent of the sentence — eight and a half years — before he becomes eligible for parole, Billhimer said.

Vicari also imposed mandatory fines and penalties and suspended Sharkey’s driving privileges for his guilty plea to driving while intoxicated, he said.

Additionally, Vicari sentenced Sharkey to 10 years in prison with five years of parole ineligibility to be served consecutively for his guilty plea to being a certain person not to possess a firearm in an unrelated incident in Jackson on March 12, 2023, Billhimer said.

The crash happened about 4 p.m. on March 23, 2023, at the intersection of Route 70 and Massachusetts Avenue, moments after someone called 911 to report an erratic driver.

Sharkey was driving east on Route 70 in a rented 2022 Dodge Ram 1500 and failed to stop at the red light at Massachusetts Avenue. He grazed the rear of a 2016 Honda CRV that was turning left onto Massachusetts Avenue from Route 70 west then hit a 2017 Subaru Impreza that also was trying to turn left onto Massachusetts Avenue from Route 70 west, investigators determined.

The impact pushed the Impreza backward and caused it to spin, and the pickup truck overturned and came to rest on the driver's side and caught fire. As the pickup overturned it grazed a 2021 Lexus RX 350 causing minor damage.

The man who was driving the Impreza and three children who were with him were injured, Billhimer said. All four were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The man and two of the children were treated and released but the third child, a girl who was 4 years old at the time, according to a GoFundMe campaign created by her aunt.

The girl was critically injured but survived and was later transferred to a rehabilitation facility. She now is at home recovering, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators learned Sharkey had been driving erratically and was using a cell phone just before the crash, and that he was driving despite having a suspended driver’s license. He also had two active warrants for his arrest, the prosecutor said. The nature of those warrants was not released.

The Dodge Ram was rented, and Sharkey had taken it without the consent of the person who had rented it, Billhimer said.

Sharkey was injured in the crash and taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood for treatment, and his blood draw under a warrant, authorities said. Laboratory results showed Sharkey was under the influence of meth at the time of the crash.

The March 12, 2023, incident where Sharkey pled guilty involved authorities finding him slumped over and sleeping in a vehicle on North County Line Road in Jackson.

Police found he was under the influence of an intoxicant and he was arrested, the prosecutor's office said. A search of his vehicle turned up a .22 caliber handgun, the prosecutor said.

Sharkey was released from jail in that incident just 11 days before the Route 70 crash, the prosecutor said.

Sharkey has been held in the Ocean County Jail since the March 23, 2023, crash.

Previous reporting:

• Man Admits Meth Use Before Route 70 Crash In Toms River That Injured Girl, 4
• 'Smart, Sassy, Beautiful Little Girl' Fighting For Life After Route 70 Crash, Family Says
• Suspended Driver Ran Red Light In Route 70 Crash, Child 'Critical': Prosecutor Says
• 'Erratic Driver' Seen Before Route 70 Crash That Led To Multiple Injuries: Toms River PD