TOMS RIVER OFFENDER IGNORES REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT
During the week of September 28, 2015, Sergeant Michael V. Cecchini of the Megan’s Law Unit of the Special Investigations Bureau of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into Keith M. Hahn, 37, for the third (3rd) degree crime of failure to register pursuant to Megan’s Law. Registrants are required by New Jersey state law to either register annually or every ninety (90) days with the police department of the municipality in which they reside. The investigation revealed that Hahn failed to register annually with the Toms River Township Police Department for 2015. Toms River still remains Hahn’s current residential municipality. An arrest warrant was reviewed and approved by Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Ehsan F. Chowdhry designating the charge. Assistant Prosecutor Chowdhry and Sergeant Cecchini presented the legal documents to the Honorable Wendel E. Daniels, P.J.Cr. of the Ocean County Superior Court who approved signing of the complaint and set bail at $45,000 no 10%.
Sergeant Cecchini continued the investigation in his search for Hahn. Upon surveillance and searching for the suspect, Hahn was taken into custody on Tuesday September 29, 2015 by Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office officers Sergeant Cecchini, Detective John M. Argento and Detective Adam Hess, along with New Jersey State Senior Parole Officers Timothy Sullivan, Rodney Nelson and Mark Grausso. Hahn was arrested and taken into custody without incident.
Hahn was remanded to the Ocean County Justice Facility pending posting bail and presentment of the charge to an Ocean County Grand Jury. Hahn is facing the third (3rd) degree crime of failure to register pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2e. These statutes (N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 through 2C:7-23) were passed on Monday October 31, 1994 by the New Jersey Legislature and are interchangeably referred to as Megan’s Law and / or Registration and Community Notification Laws. Ordinarily, the maximum potential punishment on this third (3rd) degree crime is 5 years in New Jersey State Prison with up to a $15,000 fine.
Anyone with relevant information regarding registrant offenders should contact Sergeant Michael V. Cecchini at (732) 929 2027 extension 7918. The information may be given anonymously. At this time there is no information on whether the defendant has an attorney. This charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty or found guilty in a court of law.
Keith M. Hahn
Follow the Office of the Ocean County Prosecutor online at Twitter and Facebook. The social media links provided are for reference only. For additional information visit our website at oceancountyprosecutor.org.