Stories of Surrender from Atlantic City's Fugitive Program

Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office Public Information Officer Bernie Weisenfeld submitted this account from the fourth Fugitive Safe Surrender program:

They hugged Gloucester County prosecutors in gratitude, they cried, and almost all went home free of arrest warrants.

More than 3,000 men and women on the lam, some for many years, decided to get their legal problems resolved at the Free Safe Surrender program.

Through the eyes of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office (GCPO) staff, the following are some of their touching and comical stories.

At the Atlantic City Convention Center, part of which was converted to a 14-judge courthouse, were all prosecuting attorneys of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, several GCPO support staff  to check warrants and a number of county law enforcement personnel to provide security. Working in shifts, assistant county prosecutors took turns with assistant prosecutors and municipal prosecutors from other counties in bringing cases of people with outstanding warrants before a judge.

Fugitives from as far away as California and Georgia, many of them facing their fate with tears and thanks despite hours of waiting time, received often generous consideration for their willingness to settle up with the justice system.

Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Vincent Malfitano remembers a couple of the cases he handled:

“I had a 50-year-old woman who did not drive or vote for the last 10 years because she had an unpaid parking ticket," Malfitano said. "I had a professional wrestler, now 50 years old, who became addicted to pain medication and had one bad year where he racked up four driving tickets (non-DUI). He had stayed in North Carolina for six years because he could not face the fines and warrants.  He cried when he got his break.”

GCPO victim advocate Rosemarie Seider-Paquin encountered a man who wanted to be an honest parent.

“There was an older gentleman who had lost his license over 15 years ago. He has three children and has been trying to raise them right, and felt bad that he was not following the law, but teaching his children to do so,” Seider-Paquin said. “When he heard about the safe surrender program, he knew he had to do this. He was able to get his license back and had to pay a small fine. He can now teach his children the right way to live, because he will be living it also.”

Some GCPO staff remember their cases with a smile. Trial Chief Mary Pyffer recalled the desperate-looking man who approached her with the demand that she had to get him out of there fast. She explained there were some 500 cases waiting for their turn. The man lifted his shirt, showing a full colostomy bag and explaining he hadn’t brought a spare one from his out-of-state home.

He was expedited.

Assistant Prosecutor Alex Gutierrez handled a case of a twin brother named Sean.

“His brother was named Shawn. Shawn used Sean’s name for a number of cases in the ‘90s. We confirmed that because Sean was incarcerated when Shawn used his name,” Gutierrez said.

A judge dismissed cases that were not Sean’s and resolved others that were. Meanwhile, Shawn’s now the one in jail.

Some prosecutors were simply nonplussed at happy, relieved defendants who wanted to hug them. Prosecutors don’t often get that from people being prosecuted.

Sgt. Barry Johnson of the GCPO fugitive unit, on security duty for FSS, met “at least six people that went and spent the whole day and didn’t have any warrants. They thought they did.”

GCPO community relations coordinator Shannon Fuerneisen, who volunteered for “crowd reassurance” duty, explaining the process and making sure people didn’t get lost, remembers one man who became an instant Free Safe Surrender advocate.

“He said to me, ‘Yo, this is no joke.’ I agreed. He then continued to call several of his friends and tell them to get down to AC to get their stuff handled before they miss their chance," Fuerneisen said. "He called at least three people.”

The specter of warrants had a positive effect on at least one who came to the Convention Center. Senior Assistant Prosecutor Audrey Curwin handled the case of a woman who had been a prostitute and heroin addict and had been arrested on drug charges.

"She was a mess in the 90’s,” Curwin said. “However, since then, she has gone to community college and got an associate's degree. She has been working steadily for the last several years. She met a nice man, got married and has a two-year-old son. She was afraid to turn herself in because she didn’t want to go to jail after working so hard to get sober and begin a new life.”

“After meeting her, I finally realized the true value of what the week was about,” Curwin said.

But the surrender program did not just benefit those who lived in fear or in rejection of the law.

“There’s no question we saved police as well as public safety officer’s lives in what we did,” said state Parole Board chairman Jim Plousis, an Free Safe Surrender organizer. The typical reaction of fugitive warrant subjects is “fight or flight,” and law enforcement officers risk harm in attempting to arrest them, Plousis said.

“So you don’t know how many lives we saved in eliminating police pursuits,” he said. “Last year, 15 law enforcement officers in this country were killed serving misdemeanor warrants.”

The state’s fourth and final “Fugitive Safe Surrender” program since 2008 ended with 3,027 voluntary surrenders, pleasing state officials who organized the massive publicity, computer installation and personnel management project. In four Free Safe Surrender events since November 2008, 13,276 fugitives surrendered in New Jersey, more than any other state that took part in the federally funded program.

Just 15 fugitives were jailed after surrendering. Atlantic County Sheriff Frank X. Balles said these were cases like a man facing aggravated sexual assault who “knew he was going to jail” and a man with three bench warrants for failing to appear for sentencing on drug charges who “has been running from it.”

Deputy New Jersey Attorney General Philip Aronow thanked all five South Jersey prosecutors  whose offices helped with Free Safe Surrender. Aronow singled out the GCPO for an “extraordinary” effort during long days of working out fines, pleas and dismissals. County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton “saw the wisdom of this program from the beginning,” Aronow said to Dalton, who personally handled the first case on the first day.

“It would not have been successful without your influence,” Aranow said.

Aronow also praised the Grace Assembly of God Church in Atlantic City as “a cornerstone” of the Free Safe Surrender program. Fugitives arriving in the city reported first to the church and were shuttled to the convention center for adjudication.

“It was a privilege,” said church Minister Thea Fitzpatrick, who called participation in the program part of her church’s mission of “saving souls.”

Churches had “an integral role” in Safe Surrender, GCPO Trial Chief  Pyffer explained.

“Let’s face it, fugitives don’t trust law enforcement. Police officers, when they encounter fugitives, their job is to arrest them, period," Pyffer said.

More trusted figures to those in trouble are clergy, she said, and they supported the chance to surrender “in a safe, welcoming, helping environment,” she said.

Locally, First Baptist of Deptford and Second Baptist of Paulsboro provided transportation to Atlantic City for the surrender program.