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Joseph A. Ferretti, 30 (above, left), of Dumont, and Joseph Meyer, 21 (right), of Oviedo, Fla. were originally charged with death by auto, a second-degree crime that has sent those convicted in New Jersey to prison for terms of five to 10 years, depending on various factors.
The grand jury charged both with the more serious offense of aggravated manslaughter, as well as vehicular homicide. Convictions can carry prison terms of up to 30 years — 85% of which must be served.
Steve Lenge
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Ferretti and Meyer, who have remained free on bail since their arrests, were working for Gotham Dream Cars and had just fueled their vehicles for a run before Lenge was killed on May 13, 2012.
Lenge, a 56-year-old father of two, was wearing a helmet as he rode his 2011 Triumph to a second job at the Meadowlands Sports Complex — where he helped build the set for the Electric Daisy Festival — when it was struck head-on by one of the two 2006 Ferraris on the Berry’s Creek service road.
Meyer had lost control coming around a turn, New Jersey State Police said.
The vehicle spun, hit two curbs and caused Ferretti to lose control of his car, which swerved into the oncoming lane, smashing Lenge’s bike, they said.
Lenge — who grew up in North Bergen and made Things From England one of the world’s most popular independent record stores — was killed instantly.
Investigators determined that both cars were speeding.
Ferretti was graduated from Dickinson College in in Carlisle, Pa. with a BS in Science, Mathematics and Physics and had been working as the head of Dream Car Sprints at Gotham barely two months at the time.
He was one of several employees who moved in 2011 to State Street Corp., a Manhattan financial services company, when it took over investment operations from AllianceBernstein, where he began working in February 2006.
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