NEW JERSEY
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Posted by Jason Koestenblatt (Editor) , January 15, 2014
More than two years after a monument dedicated to victims of clergy sex abuse was destroyed, a Mendham man pleaded guilty to the crime.
Gordon Ellis, 39, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal mischief as a disorderly persons offense on Wednesday in Superior Court in Morristown, according to nj.com.
Third-degree criminal mischief and desecrating religious or sectarian premises were the original charges filed against Ellis, the report said.
Under the plea agreement, in which Ellis admitted taking a sledgehammer to the 400-lb. monument outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham, the man must pay $7,500 in restitution and will be given probation with no jail time, the report said.
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