First responders typically run toward danger — but a New Jersey cop allegedly hit an ATM and then a pizza parlor instead of responding to a 911 call about what turned out to be a double murder-suicide, prosecutors said.
Franklin Township Police Sgt. Kevin Bollaro has been on administrative leave since Aug. 2, the day authorities found the bodies of veterinarian Lauren Semanchik, 33, and her new boyfriend, volunteer firefighter Tyler Webb, 29, inside her home.
Nearby, authorities found the remains of her 45-year-old ex, New Jersey State Police Lt. Ricardo Santos, who had killed himself.
Lauren Semanchik was killed, along with her boyfriend Tyler Webb, by her police officer ex. Facebook / Lauren Semanchik
Sergeant Kevin Bollaro’s attorney said his client’s actions on Aug. 1 wouldn’t have changed the horrific outcome. Franklin Twp. School – Hunterdon / Facebook
Bollaro had been dispatched to investigate three 911 calls from Semanchik’s concerned neighbors, but never actually went to the home, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson said.
Instead, Bollaro “falsely stated in his report that he ‘checked the area along Upper Kingtown Road again and was unable to locate the source of the shots,’ and that he ‘cleared the scene after approximately 20 minutes,’” Robeson’s office alleged of the Aug. 1 incident.
Bollaro was outed by GPS data and surveillance footage that contradicted his account — and instead revealed his drive 1.5 miles in the opposite direction, to a TD Bank on Route 31 in Clinton Township, prosecutors said.
There, Bollaro took out some cash and headed for Duke’s Pizzeria in Pittstown — during the period he claimed to be canvassing Semanchik’s neighborhood.
While he did drive through the area, it was briefly, and on his way to the pizza parlor.
Bollaro was later spotted socializing at the Pittstown Inn restaurant.
Tyler Webb was a volunteer firefighter. Pinewald Pioneer Fire Co.
Semanchik and Webb attended a concert together before their murders. Courtesy Webb Family
“GPS data also revealed that Bollaro spent approximately five consecutive hours of his duty shift — from approximately 11:27 PM until 4:33 AM — at Locust Grove Cemetery, during which no law enforcement activity was recorded by him,” prosecutors contended.
Bollaro has been charged with official misconduct and tampering with records.
Semanchik had only started dating again when she was killed. GoFundMe
His attorney, Charles J. Sciarra, issued a statement, reading, in part, “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped” the killings and “the evidence will show that there were delays in these 911 calls being made and dispatched.”
Shooting calls, Sciarra said, are “a regular occurrence in this community,” and noted his client “has faithfully served that community for nearly 25 years is not guilty of anything related to this horrendous killing. This prosecution is unfortunate.”