On Tuesday, both of the New Jersey gym owners who had been fighting a legal battle over their defiance of the Garden State’s COVID-19 lockdown orders were finally cleared of all charges.
A controversial New Jersey gym owner who defied the Garden State’s COVID-19 restrictions was cleared of more than 80 charges relating to a series of pandemic-era confrontations with police — and he celebrated by posting on social media that the governor could “suck his d–k.”
Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti — co-owners of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr — racked up the summonses after they kept their workout spot open in May 2020 despite Gov. Phil Murphy’s mandate to close non-essential businesses.
At one point, cops even arrested some gym rats as they left the building — and the owners were hit with scores of summonses and eventually ordered to pay about $165,000 in fines for violating public health emergency rules, according to NJ.com.
The reaction by law enforcement was, one might say, vigorous — as were the charges filed against the Atilis Gym’s owners.
Several of the charges — which included violating a governor’s orders, operating without a mercantile license, creating a public nuisance and disturbing the peace — could have landed the duo in jail for six months, according to their attorney, John McCann of Oakland, New Jersey.
But late last month, a municipal judge in Winslow Township dropped the charges — following a nearly four-year legal battle, McCann told the outlet.
“It was a just decision,” McCann told The Post on Tuesday, adding that the pair were improperly charged by local authorities.
As with so many businesses from coast to coast that were affected by the COVID lockdowns, the cost of these restrictions to Smith and Trumbetti may never be fully known.
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Ian Smith responded to the dismissal of charges in a… colorful manner.
“This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of Phil Murphy and his lackies,” Smith said, although he didn’t elaborate about what the “treasonous actions” might be.
“Suck my d–k Phil Murphy,” the gym owner added.
Neither local nor state officials decided to appeal the ruling, McCann said.
“When you look at this, it didn’t make a lot of sense at the time,” McCann told NJ.com.
That’s New Jersey for you.
The total cost of the COVID-19 debacle may never be known. The costs are many, varied, and legion, in lost productivity, lost jobs, lost property value, lost revenue, lost education, lost opportunities — and lost liberty. Note that it took Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti four years just to fight their way through the legal processes resulting from them defying the New Jersey state government’s lockdown orders, which would have cost them their livelihoods.
At least, for now, they can get back to work.
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