45°
The defense lawyer for 22-year-old Norman Girdley Jr. blamed a Klonipin tablet — an anti-anxiety drug — someone gave his client that he said “didn’t agree with him.”
Girdley otherwise is “a good kid, an excellent kid,” attorney John Klotz told Superior Court Judge James J. Guida.
Norman Girdley Jr. (STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Girdley broke into the Boys and Girls Club on June 14, 2013 and “basically trashed the place,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Nicole Eiszner said.
He admitted breaking windows, emptying filing cabinets and defecating in an office before taking a swim in the pool. Authorities said he also destroyed decorations and ate some of the food for the organization’s prom — geared to children ages 6-13 and their parents — being held that night.
Club members rallied and cleaned things up so that the event wouldn’t be postponed.
Girdley pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense. In exchange, prosecutors dropped all felony charges arising from the incident.
“This probation is a gift,” Eiszner said. “If he violates it, we won’t be so generous.”
Girdley told the judge today that he could afford $100 a month.
At that rate, the debt wouldn’t be cleared for 12½ years.
“You will have to pay that. Understand?” Guida asked him.
“Yes,” Girdley replied.
A worker at the club alerted Garfield police after arriving at 5:45 the morning of the incident to find Girdley running through the hallway.
Responding local officers set up a perimeter around the building and were quickly joined by their colleagues from Lodi and a Bergen County Police Department K-9 unit.
They were doing a room-by-room search when Girdley bolted out the back door of the swimming pool and was grabbed by city Police Sgt. John Demko and Officer David Coniglio, authorities said.
He was released on $10,000 bail after spending a month in the Bergen County Jail following the incident.
STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
