Brick Man Arrested for Pulling Emergency Alarm at Courthouse

Handcuffs (Shorebeat File Photo/ banspy/ Flickr)

A Brick Township man has been charged with a second degree crime, which could carry a jail sentence, for pulling an alarm that interrupted proceedings at the Monmouth County courthouse this morning, officials said.

Michael Marsh, 36, was charged with one count of creating a false public alarm, for pulling an alarm within the courthouse a little after 9:30 this morning, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. A joint investigation by the prosecutor’s office and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department resulted in identifying and apprehending Marsh, the statement said.

Marsh is now being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold, awaiting his first appearance.

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“Law enforcement everywhere treats every one of these incidents as a potentially serious threat to the safety and well-being of our citizens,” said Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni. “These false threats are not a game or joke, but a crime that will be aggressively pursued by this office.”

Coincidentally, Gramiccioni spearheaded a bill in 2016 – sponsored by former state Sen. Jennifer Beck – that increased the crime of false public alarm to a second degree offense if the false report involved a building necessary for public safety, such as the Monmouth County court house.