FREEHOLD – A Middletown woman pleaded guilty Friday to leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident and endangering the welfare of her juvenile passengers, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni. The July 2015 accident took the life of a 15-year-old Atlantic Highlands girl.
As part of a plea agreement with this Office, Toni A. Marletta, 50, of Thompson Avenue in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, pleaded guilty to one count each of second degree Knowingly Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in a Fatality and third degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child in connection with the fatal motor vehicle collision on July 7, 2015. Marletta entered her guilty plea before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner.
As part of the plea agreement, this Office will recommend Marletta be sentenced to a 7-year term of incarceration in a New Jersey state prison on the second degree count Knowingly Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in a Fatality, and a concurrent 4-year sentence on thethird degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child counts.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2, 2016.
Middletown Township Police were dispatched at approximately 8:24 p.m. on July 7, 2015, to Route 36 in the area of Avenue D for a report of a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, police immediately located the 15-year-old victim, Marissa Procopio, of Atlantic Highlands. She was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune Township where she died the next day.
An investigation into the fatal collision by Middletown Township Police, in cooperation with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team, determined the victim was crossing Route 36 in the area of Avenue D, when she was struck by a motor vehicle driven by Marletta. Marletta, who had three 16-year-old girls in her car at the time of the collision, fled the scene, but the investigation led police to Marletta’s vehicle later that evening. The vehicle displayed damage consistent with the collision. Marletta ultimately arrived at the Middletown Township Police Department, but was later released pending further investigation into the collision.
The investigation progressed and Marletta was charged on July 15, 2015, with Knowingly Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in a Fatality.
The case is prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Meghan Doyle.
Marletta is represented by Peter M. O’Mara, Esq., of Little Silver.
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