Second accuser delayed release of Cape May man
By JACK FICHTER
Sentinel staff
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Cape May Councilman Chris Bezaire, arrested by the county Prosecutor’s Office on June 16 on charges of invasion of privacy, cyber harassment, stalking and contempt of court, was released from jail June 28 following 13 days of incarceration.
Bail-reform legislation combined with a detention motion for additional charges kept Bezaire in custody, according to his attorney, John Tumelty.
Since May, detectives from the county Prosecutor’s Office with the assistance of detectives from the Middle Township Police Department have been conducting an investigation into cyber harassment allegedly committed by Bezaire involving a former girlfriend.
Bezaire was taken into custody June 16 without incident and court-authorized search warrants were executed at his home in the 200 block of Windsor Avenue and work in the 500 block of Washington Street.
According to the first complaint, Bezaire committed “cyber harassment by knowingly sending, posting lewd or obscene material to or about a person with the intent to emotionally harm a reasonable person, specifically by posting an image of the victim performing oral sex on the website Facebook, without her permission.”
The first complaint states Bezaire committed invasion of privacy by knowing he was not licensed or privileged to post the photo on Facebook “by an alias account that was positively lined to the suspect.”
The first complaint states Bezaire committed stalking by purposely or knowingly engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his/her safety or suffer emotional distress by repeatedly sending messages through electronic means to the victim publicly and/or privately.
The complaint states Bezaire committed contempt of court by purposely or knowingly violating any provision in an order entered under the provisions of the prevention of domestic violence act of 1991, specifically by contacting the victim through harassing emails and social media messages.
The complaint notes Bezaire “has created multiple Facebook and email accounts to communicate with the victim,” on multiple occasions in violation of civil restraints and in violation of a final restraining order. It notes a number of the email accounts were created on websites that allow individuals to remain anonymous and therefore avoid detection.
The second complaint against Bezaire from another victim contains a contempt of court charge for violating provisions of the Preventions of Domestic Violence Act of 1991, specifically by creating and positing from a fictitious account in the name of the victim.
The complaint notes Bezaire “did impersonate another, assume a false identity and does act in such assumed character in order to injure or defraud another specifically by creating a fake Facebook (social media) account in the name of the victim and made posts from that account onto the Facebook social media site.”
The complaint of the second victim also states the posting of lewd, indecent or obscene material with the intent of emotional harm by creating a fraudulent Facebook account in the victim’s name.
According to the complaint, Bezaire created a fake account impersonating the second victim using her photo as the profile picture to Facebook. The complaint states Bezaire made harassing statements involving the victim’s past relationship while a final restraining order was in effect.
During a detention hearing June 22 conducted via Zoom, Assistant County Prosecutor Jennifer Hance told Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury more charges were expected to be filed against Bezaire by a second victim, thus delaying Bezaire’s release.
Another detention hearing was held June 25, the day after Bezaire was charged with three additional counts of cyber harassment, contempt and impersonation regarding a second victim were filed, according to Hance.
She said the state asked the detention hearing be postponed until June 28 and that the state had received a number of reports including the certification of the search warrant. However, the main report was not completed. Tumelty told the court he needed to obtain the new charges and all of the police reports germane to both cases.
DeLury scheduled another virtual detention hearing for June 28, which was not available to the public. The Star and Wave contacted the county Prosecutor’s Office and Gail Riddle, assistant criminal division manager for Superior Court-Cape May County, who stated due to a technical glitch, no audio or video recording of the June 28 detention hearing was available.
Tumelty told the Star and Wave that Delury’s staff attempted to fix the livestream without success.
He said conditions of Bezaire’s release include not having any contact with his accusers and participating in pre-trial monitoring.
“He’s back working, he’s taking care of normal activities,” Tumelty said.
Bezaire is permitted to use his office computer and cell phone for work purposes, Tumelty said.
A preindictment conference has been set for Aug. 20, Tumelty said.
“It gives the prosecutor and I an opportunity to really go over all the evidence and explore a potential resolving the case earlier, prior to the case going to grand jury,” Tumelty said.
He said Bezaire’s length of incarceration was due in part to bail reform, which eliminated cash bail and bail bondsmen. Tumelty said when someone is arrested on a complaint warrant, once they are processed by a local police department, they are transported and processed into the county jail.
An arrestee is entitled to a detention hearing within 48 hours with one exception, he said. If a county prosecutor files a motion for detention, a detention hearing is delayed for three business days. That increased Bezaire’s time in the county jail to a week.
Under state statute, the prosecutor is allowed to ask for three more days for more time to collect police reports and get prepared for the detention hearing.
“That delayed the detention hearing for another three business days and on top of that, there were new charges filed involving a second accuser,” Tumelty said.
He said he had not discussed with Bezaire retaining his seat on City Council, which met last night, too late for the Star and Wave’s deadline.
