{"id":40870,"date":"2025-11-15T23:01:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/40870\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T23:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:01:16","slug":"nj-prosecutors-decline-criminal-charges-in-texting-scandal-targeting-maga-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/40870\/","title":{"rendered":"NJ prosecutors decline criminal charges in texting scandal targeting MAGA mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local cops were ready to press charges in the vile text-message scandal targeting a MAGA-loving New Jersey board of education member<\/a> \u2014 but the Democratic county prosecutor declined to take the case.<\/p>\n

Cops in affluent Marlboro, NJ announced the development this week, noting they consulted with the Monmouth County Prosecutor\u2019s Office, which determined the vile behavior did not \u201cmeet the threshold of criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mom of three Danielle Bellomo was the subject of a disturbing group chat labeled \u201cThis Bitch Needs to Die,\u201d and during one public board meeting, a member was caught on camera texting, \u201cBellomo must be cold \u2014 her nips could cut glass right n.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Bellomo was frustrated with the lack of criminal charges in the case. LP Media<\/p>\n

Cops, Bellomo wrote on Facebook this week, told her they were ready to move forward with charges \u201cfor terroristic threats, cyber harassment, conspiracy to do harm, and cyber harassment through a deep fake video.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, The Monmouth County Prosecutor\u2019s Office ultimately chose not to pursue these charges,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

The allegations didn\u2019t rise to the level of an \u201cindictable\u201d offense, Monmouth Prosecutor Raymond Santiago\u2019s office told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say the Prosecutor\u2019s Office \u2018decline(d) to move forward\u2019 in this matter is a mischaracterization,\u201d a spokesman said, describing the text messages as \u201cclearly disturbing and offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJurisdictionally, our office is tasked with prosecuting indictable matters, whereas lower offenses are charged and prosecuted at the municipal level. After a careful and thorough evaluation, we advised the Marlboro Police Department that, legally, there was insufficient evidence to constitute an indictable charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MAGA-loving mom of three said she fears for the safety of herself and her family. Danielle Bellomo\/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Outrage was immediate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not surprising unfortunately. Woman to woman\u2026I am very glad that you\u2019re safe and hope the disgusting pigs that put you through this will stay under their rocks,\u201d one woman responded to Bellomo\u2019s post. <\/p>\n

\u201cDoes \u2018alleged\u2019 mean no threats were made?\u201d another person wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to turn into a total freefall with what we\u2019re allowed to say,\u201d a third commenter predicted. \u201cThings are about to get wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The controversy came to light in September, when five men \u2014 allegedly including board vice president Chad Hyett; then-candidate Scott Semaya; former board candidate Nirav Kadakia; former public school teacher Lenny Thor; and Mitesh Gandhi, the husband of a current board member \u2014 were caught in the group chat.<\/p>\n

The Post\u2019s story on the controversy caught the attention of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who called it \u201cwrong. And evil\u201d\u00a0in an X post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Semaya quickly dropped out of the race, as did his running mate Melissa Goldberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all saw what happened with Charlie Kirk,\u201d Bellomo, 38, said, noting the conservative activist had been threatened before his Sept. 10 assassination<\/a>. \u201cThis same group of people had a lot of hatred toward me. When you pair that all together, it does create a fear for my life.<\/p>\n

The controversy erupted after someone snapped photos of Semaya as he typed out a text message about Bellomo and posted the image to social media. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI reported these messages for the safety of my family,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cjust knowing that these people are out there, planning and wanting to do harm to you, is not a way to live in the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is set to appear in New Jersey court next week as she seeks to extend a protective order against Mitesh Gandhi.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Semaya said in a statement that it\u2019s \u201ca sad state of affairs when private communications that were never intended to become public actually went viral as a result of Scott\u2019s privacy being invaded,\u201d adding \u201cwe have maintained from the outset that Scott never committed a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 4, voters elected incumbents<\/a> Michael Lilonsky and Valentina Mendez to the board, along with newcomer Kerry Ann Jankowski.<\/p>\n

Unofficial results showed Goldberg would have been elected had she stayed in the race, but she declined the position, according to a report, <\/a>clearing the path for fourth-place finisher Mendez.<\/p>\n

The disturbing texts created a firestorm at a Marlboro Board of Education meeting last month, where residents ripped the group<\/a> and called for change, while Bellomo said the district\u2019s civility policy \u2014 which would have banned the chat participants from school property \u2014 should have been implemented.<\/p>\n

The board then canceled its next meeting before hastily scheduling one Tuesday, which Bellomo skipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said nothing had changed with the safety so why are you scheduling this impromptu meeting,\u201d she recalled of board president Brad Cohen. \u201cHe said basically because we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local cops were ready to press charges in the vile text-message scandal targeting a MAGA-loving New Jersey board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5342,22958,6975,6976,57,1066,9,11,10,209,5271,58],"class_list":["post-40870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-conservatives","tag-harassment","tag-hate-speech","tag-marlboro","tag-metro","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-public-schools","tag-schools","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}