Ex-Cop, Fire Chief Handcuffed, Sexually Abused Young Toms River Firefighters, Suit Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A former Island Heights police officer and fire official with the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company is accused of handcuffing and sexually assaulting young firefighter recruits in a lawsuit filed by three firefighters.

The 92-page lawsuit, filed March 17 in Ocean County Superior Court, accuses Robert Sinnott Jr. of preying on young volunteer firefighters, assaulting them, harassing them and destroying their reputations within the firehouse when they sought to end the abuse. It also accuses other officials in the fire company and Toms River Fire District 2 of ignoring what Sinnott was doing and failing to stop him.

“The abuse occurred not only at Sinnott’s residence but shockingly, in full view of others at the firehouse,” the lawsuit alleges. “This case is not just about the individual acts of one predator, but about the collective failure of an institution to protect those under its care.”

Sinnott was president of the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company from 2017-2021 and was a police officer until February 2021 with the Island Heights Police Department, serving for 23 years. He did not immediately answer messages through LinkedIn and Facebook Messenger sent Tuesday afternoon seeking comment.

Tim Carson, business administrator for Toms River Fire District 2 which oversees the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company, declined to comment.

“We have not been served with the lawsuit yet and cannot comment until we see it,” Carson said Tuesday.

Richard M. Braslow, the attorney for Toms River Fire District 2 and its Board of Fire Commissioners, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that Robert Sinnott Jr. has been on administrative leave since 2023.

"Toms River Fire District 2 and its Board of Fire Commissioners cannot comment due to pending litigation," Braslow wrote in the emailed statement.

"However, I can share that the Fire Commissioners acted swiftly upon learning of the allegations, and various law enforcement authorities were notified so that the appropriate legal action and investigation could take place," he said. "The member in question has been on administrative leave since 2023. Any further inquiries should be directed to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office or the Attorney General’s Office."

The three firefighters, who are identified only as John Doe 1, 2, and 3, all say Sinnott used his position of authority in the fire company to groom them before assaulting them.

The first firefighter, John Doe 1, joined Silverton Fire Company in 2014 after meeting Sinnott two years earlier, when Sinnott responded as a police officer to a friend’s home during an emergency. In 2017, Sinnott asked the young man, then 24, to help him create an educational presentation on using handcuffs by posing for photos wearing the cuffs, according to the lawsuit.

Sinnott arrived at the home where John Doe 1 lived with his parents, asked him to put on tighter clothing — he was wearing baggy clothing — and then took the young man’s cell phone. Once he cuffed John Doe 1, he made the young man lie down and cuffed his ankles, then told him to get up. The young man could not because of a knee injury, and Sinnott helped him up and then began groping him, the lawsuit said.

The assault only stopped when the young man gave a voice command for his work cell phone to call his girlfriend, the lawsuit said. Shortly afterward, Sinnott started calling John Doe 1 “shady,” and the young man later learned Sinnott had been saying similar things to others in the firehouse, including accusing him of being a drug dealer, the lawsuit says.

He says he has been trying to find work as a paid firefighter and accuses Sinnott of defamation that has disrupted his job search.

John Doe 2 joined Silverton at age 19 in 2018 and said he became close with Sinnott because Sinnott’s stature within the company “made him feel safe,” according to the lawsuit, which noted John Doe 2 “was just a kid looking for a father figure.”

Sinnott took him to bars and took him for ride-alongs in his Island Heights police car, according to the lawsuit, and was called “Bob’s boyfriend” by other members of the fire company, though the lawsuit says John Doe 2 “never understood why.” It alleges Sinnott told John Doe 2 that the young man was hated by everyone in the fire company.

The lawsuit says John Doe 2 agreed to pose for handcuffing photos for money — over the objections of his girlfriend — after refusing Sinnott’s requests multiple times in 2021.

After Sinnott cuffed John Doe 2, he lifted him up and began rubbing his shoulders, asking him inappropriate personal questions, then put the young man in a headlock and started choking him while “grunting and grinding his pelvis into John Doe 2’s backside,” according to the lawsuit.

Sinnott then made John Doe 2 touch Sinnott’s genitals, according to the lawsuit. He then started ignoring and isolating John Doe 2 after that.

John Doe 3 met Sinnott in 2016 and joined the fire company in 2017, and Sinnott frequently took him to bars and restaurants, according to the lawsuit.

In 2023, Sinnott began “regularly sexually assaulting” John Doe 3, who was 27, according to the lawsuit. Sinnott groped John Doe 3 while sitting in Sinnott’s car, grabbing the younger man’s chest and putting his hand on the younger man’s groin, refusing to let John Doe 3 out of the car, the lawsuit says.

That was followed by “repeated sexual harassment and assault” in view of the firehouse’s cameras, and included forced sexual touching, forced hugging, aggressive groping, and forcible restraint, the lawsuit said. He alleges footage from the security cameras showing the acts was deleted.

“Sinnott would frequently rub himself on John Doe 3,” and forced him to touch Sinnott’s penis and would not allow him to let go, the lawsuit alleges.

When John Doe 3 started avoiding him, Sinnott would show up unannounced and would try to corner the younger man, according to the lawsuit.

John Doe 3 said he reported the incidents in 2023 to John Keating Jr., the current Silverton chief, and then to Carson, the District 2 business administrator, and two members of the District 2 Board of Fire Commissioners, Joseph Duff and Kevin Britton.

"The Commissioners made John Doe 3 talk to a prosecutor who was friends with Defendant Sinnott," the lawsuit alleges. "John Doe 3 did so, but, upon information and belief, the prosecutor never proceeded with charges against Defendant Sinnott."

The lawsuit continues, "The TR Fire District 2 Commissioners, specifically Defendants Carson, Duff, and Britton advised John Doe 3 to stay quiet and refrain from further discussing or reporting Defendant Sinnott’s abuse with anyone other than the Commissioners.

John Doe 3 alleges he has been harassed by other members of the firehouse for speaking out.

He learned of other victims in 2024, the lawsuit says, as did John Doe 2.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

NOTE: This article has been updated with comment from the attorney for Toms River Fire District 2 and the district's Board of Commissioners.