MAYS LANDING — Somers Point business owner Gregory S. Sykora is set to face Judge Jeffrey Wilson on May 23 in Atlantic County Superior Court in Mays Landing on charges of witness tampering, obstructing justice and hindering apprehension.
The charges are connected to a case involving allegations of arson, tampering with evidence, endangering a child, possession of prohibited weapons and possession of weapons by a convicted felon against three co-defendants.
Sykora, owner of Sure Storage and ERCO Ceilings and Interiors at 5 Chestnut St. in Somers Point, is charged with only three of the 11 counts in the indictment, which was handed down Feb. 9.
He is charged with instructing a witness to provide false information to police regarding an ongoing investigation, a third-degree crime; refusing to provide police with video surveillance of the property during the arson investigation, a fourth-degree crime; and harboring a suspect during the police investigation, a fourth-degree crime.
Sykora, 58, said May 15 that he expects a dismissal of charges, claiming he is guilty only of owning the property where the alleged crime was committed.
The former chairman of the city Economic Development Advisory Commission and a former officer with the Somers Point Republican Club was charged along with Thomas J. Andrews, Khristoph M. Akarman and Mark R. Minter.
The indictment charges Andrews with taking evidence of a robbery, dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire to destroy it Feb. 10, 2021, on the Sure Storage property.
Minter is charged with leaving a loaded handgun with a large-capacity magazine under the bed of a 10-year-old child in his care.
Akarman is charged with conspiring with Andrews to commit arson, destroying evidence and possession of a Walther P22 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and an AR-15 .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.
It was not clear how the various charges are related.
Sykora said he was on a Zoom call when the incident took place and has 250 customers, one of them being Andrews. Sykora said he had a business relationship with Andrews through a storage contract but also through previous contracting work.
Regarding the refusal to provide surveillance footage, Sykora said new cameras had been recently installed after a previous fire at the facility and he did not have access to the footage at the time.
On the count of hindering apprehension, he said Andrews hid from police in his office unbeknownst to him and later revealed himself before leaving the scene, something authorities discovered after getting the footage.
“It’s a whole lot of nothing,” Sykora said, noting he requested to be indicted because it was the only way he and his lawyer could see the evidence against him.
“I’m looking forward to getting in front of judge and proving my innocence. I would just like this to go away so I can get back to my life,” Sykora said, noting he cannot serve on city boards like he wishes until the matter is resolved.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff