Man Found Asleep In Minivan On Snowbank In Toms River Pleads Guilty To Weapons Charge

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has pleaded guilty to drugs and weapons charges in a pair of incidents from earlier in 2025, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Chardel J. Holman, 41, pleaded guilty on Monday to being a certain person not to possess a weapon in a Feb. 12, arrest, and to conspiracy to possess less than one-half ounce of cocaine with intent to distribute in a Sept. 13 arrest, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Holman is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 16, at which time prosecutors will be seeking a 5-year prison term with five years of parole ineligibility on the weapons charge and five years in prison the cocaine charge, with the sentences to run concurrently, the prosecutor's office said.

Holman was arrested Feb. 12 in Toms River after police responding to the report of a crash near Edken Avenue and Cedar Grove Road found a Toyota Sienna parked on top of a snowbank with Holman asleep in the driver's seat, the prosecutor's office said.

As police removed Holman from the minivan they saw a handgun in plain view in the center console, authorities said, and he was arrested. A search of him subsequent to the arrest found him in possession of cocaine, authorities said.

Police learned Holman had been convicted of a charge of terroristic threats, which means he cannot legally have a firearm in New Jersey, authorities said, leading to the weapons charge. He was taken to the Ocean County Jail and later released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform.

On Sept. 13, detectives from the Little Egg Harbor and Stafford police departments were conducting a drug investigation at Walmart in Little Egg Harbor when they saw Holman and another person in a motor vehicle in the parking lot of the store.

When the detectives tried to pull the vehicle over, Holman sped off, and as he fled they saw him throw a bag out the driver's side window, authorities said. He parked the vehicle and then began to run but detectives chased Holman down and arrested him, authorities said.

Detectives found the bag he had thrown from the vehicle and it contained an unspecified quantity of cocaine, authorities said.

He was taken to the Ocean County Jail and had been held there since, the prosecutor's office said.