Driver, 21, Sentenced to Six-Year Jail Term in Fatal Brick Hit-and-Run

Mark Carey, Jr. (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

A teen driver who was behind the wheel of a vehicle that claimed the life of a pedestrian along Route 35 has been sentenced to a six year stint in New Jersey state prison.

Mark Carey, Jr., now 21, of South Amboy, was sentenced by the Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill last week after entering a guilty plea to knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of another. The sentence was in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred on Jan. 13, 2024, in the area of Route 35 South and Bay Avenue in Brick Township. Carey pled guilty to the charge before Judge Rahill on April 3, 2025.

According to a statement from prosecutors, at approximately 9:15 a.m. the day of the incident, Brick police officers were called to the area of Route 35 South and Bay Avenue for a hit-and-run collision involving a pedestrian. Responding officers discovered that a vehicle had struck a female pedestrian, later identified as Julia Sutton, 56, of Weehawken, Hudson County, in the shoulder of the roadway and then fled the scene. Sutton was taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township, where she was pronounced deceased.

---

Get Brick News Updates Daily Your email address:* Please enter all required fields Correct invalid entries

Investigators determined that the vehicle which struck and killed the victim was a 1999 Ford Explorer registered to Carey. Further investigation identified Carey as the individual who operated the SUV at the time of the crash, which resulted in Sutton’s death. Carey was taken into custody at his home in South Amboy without incident and processed at Brick Township Police headquarters. He was initially transported to the Ocean County Jail and subsequently released pursuant to New Jersey’s bail reform policy.