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CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE - Two Pennsylvania men were sentenced to probation for their part in the 2006 assault of a vacationing black police officer.

Keith R. Hoffman, 25, of Folcroft, and Thomas Russo, 23, of Lansdowne, initially were charged with bias intimidation, a first-degree crime, in connection with the Aug. 22, 2006, attack on Jarreau Francis, an off-duty officer from the Cheltenham Township Police Department in Montgomery County, who was visiting Sea Isle City with two of his fellow officers, Francis Donato and Thomas Byrne, who are white.

But after a lengthy investigation, in which investigators had a hard time determining who did what to whom, and plea negotiations, Hoffman and Russo pleaded guilty in May 2008 to the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, a third-degree crime.

In exchange for their guilty pleas, both expected to receive probationary terms and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

The men identified Jason J. Caron as the third attacker, and Caron, who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, was sentenced June 12 to three years in state prison.

On Friday, Russo was first to appear for sentencing before Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten.

"I'm not going to make excuses for my actions," Russo told the judge. "I obviously made mistakes."

His attorney, Jeffery April, asked the judge to give Russo a suspended sentence, citing the more than 100 hours of community service Russo had completed since the assault and the many letters of recommendation sent to the judge.

"He and his family are incredibly sorry for what took place," April said.

However, Assistant Prosecutor Matthew D. Weintraub said he did not think a suspended sentence would be appropriate given the seriousness of the crime and the sentence leveled on Caron.

"To this day, Judge, the problem that I have is that nobody has taken criminal responsibility or even factual responsibility for yelling racial epithets at a person who they clearly were directed to, a black man, Mr. Jarreau Francis," Weintraub said.

The assault took place after Russo called his friends to help him after he said he had been in an altercation in Sea Isle City and needed help.

"Without Mr. Russo, none of this happens," Weintraub said.

Caron, joined by Hoffman, Lindsay Moffitt and John Hamilton, drove to the scene with a baseball bat in his car and Caron asked Russo where the people were who attacked him. He pointed to a group of people and the assault, which left Francis with significant injuries, began.

During the assault, Francis and others said racial slurs were made toward Francis, but Caron denied making any racial remarks.

Batten denied the request to implement a suspended sentence and instead sentenced Russo to two years' probation.

Hoffman appeared sometime later in the day with his attorney, John Tumelty.

Weintraub credited Hoffman with cooperating and noted that, "Mr. Hoffman, unlike Mr. Caron and Mr. Russo, did actually state that he heard racial epithets being uttered and that Mr. Caron wielded the bat."

Batten noted that Hoffman's record included three disorderly persons offenses and three DWI offenses, adding Hoffman had been arrested 11 times in 10 years.

"The record of this defendant is substantially different and more severe, in this court's opinion, than the record of Mr. Russo," Batten said.

He sentenced Hoffman to three years' probation.

Both Hoffman and Russo are forbidden from having contact with the victim.

As for the other people who accompanied Caron that night, Moffitt was originally charged with obstruction and hindering apprehension, and later entered the pretrial intervention program. No charges were filed against Hamilton.

Another man, Vincent Giordano, was also charged in the attack, but the charges against Giordano were dropped in December 2006 after investigators learned Giordano had been misidentified.

E-mail Trudi Gilfillian:

TGilfillian@pressofac.com

1 comment:

• Mert17 (1) posts 4:19 pm

  This article just makes me absolutely sick. Those four people all mentioned were very much apart of what took place that night, but yet Jason Caron is the only one who took the fall for each and every one of them. Probation???? Is that a joke, that one kid Keith has been arrested atleast once a year for the past ten years, how is it that he isn't in jail already. Those four are an absolute disgrace, they should all be ashamed of themselves. They had no problem calling Jason Caron for help that night, but when he needed held from them they simply left him out to dry. What kind of animals would be able to get away with something like that. What kind of men would let someone else take responsibility for their own actions....cowards that's who. Each of them will have to live with the guilt, the lies, and the dishonesty that they led this Prosecution to believe. If there is an altercation that takes place, all parites involved should go down as one, each sentence should have been the same. A good man has been placed behind bars while all four of those scumbags get to walk the streets. Hopefully someday justice will be served.

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