Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New Jersey

About a year ago my wife and I attended a party at one of our neighbors homes. Shortly after, the neighbor claimed a piece of jewelry was taken from their home that night. They reported it to their insurance company and where reimbursed for the item. A couple of months ago our next door neighbor had a baby, and it was on the same weekend as my sons communion. She bought a gift card for my son, and mistakenly but a gift card she received from her brother into the card she was giving my son. When she couldn't find the card her brother gave her she reported it stolen. She told my wife about this and my wife told her it may have been the card she gave my son, so she showed her the canceled card and it turns out it was. We reimbursed her for the amount of the card but my was recently arrested for theft of the card. Since my other neighbor listed my wifes name as a person who attended her party, the police are trying to charge my wife with theft of the jewelry from her house also. Since my wife was arrested for the gift card, the other neighbors have gone around to every house on our block bad mouthing my family to the point where nobody is speaking to us and people have told their kids not to play with our kids. They have also gone to my wifes manager at her job and told her. Since my wife has not been found guilty of steeling a piece of jewelry from the neighbor, I;m wondering if there are any tort violations happening right now by them spreading this information throughout the town. We are now considering moving out of our home because of the stress we are under. Is there anything we can do to stop them from talking about this until my wifes case has been heard and what can we do once she has been cleared of these charges. Right now the detective has told us that other people are coming to him claiming the are missing things also, but nobody has provided any proof or evidence. Do they need concerete proof or evidence to convict my wife of these charges or can they convice her on just what people are saying - please advice I dont know what to do for her and she has become very unstable because of this - thanks


Asked on 7/19/10, 8:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jef Henninger, Esq Law Offices of Jef Henninger, Esq.

I would hire an attorney sooner rather than later. Police can and do issue charges without evidence of anything. I can tell you some real horror stories. Call me anytime to discuss at 732/773/2768.

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Answered on 7/19/10, 12:24 pm


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