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WOODBURY — William A. Garcia, 35, of Clementon, pleaded guilty April 23 to first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree sexual assault, acknowledging he had sexual contact with a child under age 13 on multiple occasions between September and December 2005 when he was residing in Monroe Township.

In a negotiated plea, Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Alec Gutierrez will recommend that Garcia be sentenced to 13 years in New Jersey state prison on the first-degree charge and a concurrent five year term on the second-degree plea. The state’s No Early Release Act applies, requiring Garcia to serve 85 percent of his prison sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Superior Court Judge Kevin T. Smith accepted the guilty pleas and deferred setting a sentencing date until Garcia is evaluated at the state’s Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, a facility for sex offenders in Avenel.  The evaluation could result in a defendant serving a sentence at the center while undergoing treatment.

Garcia has been in jail in default of $150,000 bail since his arrest on July 2, 2013 after a disclosure by the child.

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WASHINGTON TWP. — A body found in a wooded ravine behind Whitman School is not on school property or related to the school, police said.

Police received a call at about 3 p.m. Thursday that there was a body in the ravine. Officers quickly confirmed there was a man’s body there.

Although the male was not found on school property, school officials were notified of the incident and the area was secured to keep residents and students away while officers remained on scene.

Police Lt. Dennis Sims said officers have identified the body as that of 35-year-old Jacob Freitag of Garfield Avenue and that the death may have been because of an overdose or a health issue and that it appeared no crime had been committed.

Representatives from the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office and Medical Examiner’s office responded to assist with the investigation. The deceased male was turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office and the cause of death is pending.

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WEST DEPTFORD TWP.

— On April 15, Daryl E. Butler, 46, of Philadelphia and Trequan N. Rowe, 19, of Philadelphia, were arrested after a motor vehicle stop on Route 45. The vehicle that the subjects were driving was found to match the description given for a burglary that had occurred a brief time earlier in Woodbury Heights. After a subsequent investigation, both subjects were placed under arrest and turned over to the Woodbury Heights Police Department. They were later issued summonses for receiving stolen property in West Deptford Township.

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WOODBURY HEIGHTS — A Deptford man who allegedly was driving drunk hit four children on a dead-end street shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday.

All four children were sent to hospitals and one had to have surgery for traumatic dental and jaw injuries, police said.

Hector Rios was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving,  and assault by auto while DWI causing serious bodily injury, police said. A police report did not mention that Rios reportedly pleaded guilty to DWI assault by auto in 2006 in Mantua Township and was sentenced to two years probation.

Rios, 48, had left a nieces’s house near the dead end and was traveling north on the 400 block of Chestnut Street at 7:53 p.m. when he hit the four youths playing in the street, said police.

A 4-year-old female was transported to Inspira Medical Center Woodbury, where she was later released, A 15-year-old girl and two boys, 8 and 4, were sent to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The teenager and the 4-year-old boy were treated for bumps and bruises and released, said police.

The 8-year-old boy, in addition to undergoing surgery, received stitches for other injuries.

Rios left the road to the right for an unknown reason, then re-entered the street crossing over it and traveling into a wooded area on the opposite side of the street, police said. He knocked down several trees that became lodged under his pickup truck and kept him from going on to railroad tracks, said police.

His foot remained on the accelerator, which required a resident to break the passenger-side window to turn the truck off and get Rios out.

Rios was committed to the Salem County Jail in default of $25,000 bail.

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WOODBURY  — David J. Farmer, 36, of Runnemede, pleaded guilty Tuesday to committing robberies at two Deptford Township pharmacies in October and December 2013 in which oxycodone painkiller pills were taken.

Questioned by his lawyer, Farmer acknowledged threatening a pharmacy employee at a Deptford Target store by brandishing a knife on Oct. 15, 2013 and leaving the store with oxycodone. The 190 pills were valued at $7,600, according to a complaint.

On Dec. 2, 2013, Farmer acknowledged, he threatened to harm an employee of a pharmacy in a Deptford WalMart store. According to a complaint, he stole 200 oxycodone pills valued at $1,017.

In a plea agreement, Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Staci Scheetz will recommend that Farmer be sentenced to seven years in New Jersey state prison for the Target armed robbery and a concurrent five year prison sentence for the WalMart robbery. The state’s No Early Release Act applies to the sentences, requiring completion of 85 percent of the prison term before an inmate becomes eligible for parole.

Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker accepted the pleas and scheduled sentencing for June 6.

In an investigation, a Deptford police officer mapped the two Deptford robberies and two similar incidents in Camden County, determining that Runnemede was the only town within a triangular area bordered by the four hold-ups.  The investigation then turned to a vehicle type that witnesses described as the getaway car. Four such cars were registered to Runnemede owners, and one of them with distinctive spoked rims was Farmer’s. Farmer, then a dispatcher with the Burlington County Communications Center, was arrested Dec. 31, 2013.  

In Camden County, Farmer pleaded guilty on March 2, 2015 to first-degree robbery of a Stratford pharmacy on Dec. 24, 2013 and is to be sentenced April 24. 

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DEPTFORD TWP. — Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger and Freeholder Deputy Director Giuseppe ‘Joe’ Chila announced Wednesday that Gloucester County is hosting a Job Fair for Veterans on Friday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the gymnasium at Rowan College at Gloucester County (RCGC).

Damminger said that there were already 43 employers who are hiring participating at the job fair and more are expected.

Damminger said, “Hiring a hero is one of the best ways an employer can give back to those who served our country and hosting this job fair is a way the County can focus on assisting our veterans get a job in an organized setting.”

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Being semi-retired is tough, but here is certainly much less stress in my life since I left the regular work I’d been doing for 30 years.

It wasn’t really a surprise. I saw it coming when they cut me from being a full-time employee to a part-time worker. I worked the hours — morning shift, 6 to 10 a.m. —  no one liked, hoping to make myself invaluable.

Every night I was in bed at a ridiculously early hour. I’d be out of bed at around 4 a.m. and at work shortly after 5. When I was cut to part time, I made sure I stopped giving the company free work and showed up closer to
6.

So I was laid off. It’s been more than 6 months now and some differences have been immediate. Some are taking longer.

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The Gloucester County Nature Club invites people of all ages to participate in the 16th annual Gloucester County Bird Quest Saturday, May2 from 7 a.m. to 12 noon.

Novices and experienced birders are welcome. Bird Quest is family and child friendly.

Bird Quest starts with a morning of birding. The rules are simple: Identify as many different bird species as you can — by sight or sound — between 7 a.m. and 12 noon, staying in Gloucester County.

You can participate by forming a team of your own, riding on buses led by bird experts or joining any or all of three guided walks led by bird experts who will help identify birds you will see or hear.

At 12:30 p.m. all participants gather at Scotland Run Park, 980 East Academy St., Clayton, NJ, 08322 to report results and for free lunch, t-shirts and prizes.

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WOODBURY— Byron A. Sills,  26,  of Berlin NJ, arrested in Glassboro has been sentenced to serve eight years in state prison for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana and a handgun.

Sills pleaded guilty to possession of CDS with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm while committing a  CDS offense.

On the recommendation of Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Staci Scheetz, Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker on April 16 sentenced Sills to five years in prison on the weapons charge and a consecutive three-year term on the drug charge.

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