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Hospital Fined $63K After Bergen Worker's Weapons Cache Found In Closet: Officials

Months after police found an executive had stockpiled dozens of guns in his office closet, state officials are fining Hudson Regional Hospital $63,000 for failing to keep a "safe environment." 

Hudson Regional Hospital must pay $63,000 for failing to keep a safe environment, say state officials. Police found dozens of guns and a stash of ammunition in an executive's office closet in July.

Hudson Regional Hospital must pay $63,000 for failing to keep a safe environment, say state officials. Police found dozens of guns and a stash of ammunition in an executive's office closet in July.

Photo Credit: Google Maps (Street View)/Inset: Seacaucus Police

As Daily Voice has previously reported, Secaucus police were called to the hospital on July 18 after administrators received a bomb threat over the phone. 

While sweeping the building for explosives with K9 units, investigators found a trove of ammunition and nearly 40 firearms in the locked office of hospital marketing director Reuven Alonalayoff.

Alonalayoff was charged with multiple weapons offenses and arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport with assistance from the United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

Now, in a fine assessment issued to the hospital by the state Department of Health, officials are accusing Hudson Regional of failing to abide by state health regulations.

Officials say hospital administrators did not formally report the bomb threat or the weapons cache to the Health Department, nor did they "implement ... policies and procedures to maintain a safe hospital environment," according to the document. 

Moreover, officials wrote, a hospital employee other than Alonalayoff had come across the stash of weapons before they were discovered by police. The employee later said she did not tell anyone about the guns because she thought it wasn't "her business," officials said. 

For its alleged violations, the state is charging Hudson Regional $63,000 in fines. Administrators must either pay within 30 days or formally appeal the decision within 10 days, officials said. 

Investigators have not said why they believe Alonalayoff was stockpiling the weapons in the hospital. 

Health Department officials wrote that the marketing director smuggled the guns into the building in plastic cases months before they were discovered, and that hospital security did not check the packages because they were "familiar" with Alonalayoff. 

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