Chris Sheldon
NJ Advance Media
LAKEWOOD, N.J, — Despite warnings by Gov. Phil Murphy to not hold large gatherings and for non-essential businesses to close to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, Lakewood keeps coming up in Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s daily lists of people who are not abiding by the executive orders issued in March.
The latest violation occurred Monday when police in the Ocean County town were called to a business in town called Toys4U, which is located in an shopping center on Madison Avenue, Grewal and New Jersey State Police Col. Patrick J. Callahan announced Tuesday.
Officers found 50 or more people outside the store, none of whom were wearing masks or social distancing, while an employee took orders at the door. The store is a non-essential business and was ordered closed on March 21 by the governor.
The store’s parking lot was filled and there were 10 cars in the fire lane in front of it, officials said. None of the 10 employees inside were social distancing and only three were wearing masks, officials said.
The owner, Yossi Itzkowitz and the manager, Tzvi Blau, 29, were charged with violating the emergency orders, police said.
A second incident happened the day earlier, on Easter Sunday, when officers found a large gathering of adults and children in the backyard of a home that was hosting a catered party; complete with a chef and two waiters, police said.
Children were playing in a bouncy castle and cops also found a long table set up with a tablecloth, plates, utensils and chairs, authorities said.
Mendel Steiner, 27; Dina Endzweig, 26; Johnathan Schick, 31; Hindy Schick, 32; Ephraim Weiss, 31; and Chaya Weiss, 29, all of Brooklyn were charged with violating the emergency orders and child neglect, officials said.
Israel Goldenberg, 23, of Monsey, New York, was also charged with violating the emergency orders.
“Law enforcement and medical professionals are on the frontlines of this battle to protect the citizens of New Jersey from the COVID-19 virus, and we cannot stress enough how important it is that each person follow the guidelines set forth in the Executive Order,” Callahan said in a statement. “Because lives are at stake, enforcement action will be taken without hesitation against those who are blatantly placing the lives of others at risk.”