Charges lodged after trio of scarecrows are damaged

BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD — It is hard to keep a good scarecrow down — at least in Freehold Borough.

Scarecrows, ghosts, goblins and other spooky things hang out in the borough every year when Halloween comes around.

This year, however, a bit of a damper was temporarily put on Freehold's Spooktacular season, according to Barbara Kane.

Kane is a member of the borough's Spooktacular Committee and the wife of committee Chairman Roger Kane.

After being on the wrong end of a recent foot-stomping, three decorative scarecrows were temporarily put out of commission.

Freehold Borough police Lt. Mark Wodell said Patrick A. Necerato, 39, of the Clarksburg section of Millstone Township, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief in connection with the Oct. 20 scarecrow stomping.

"A witness called police and said they saw a white male with a beard exiting a pick-up truck at the intersection of Broad Street and Manalapan Avenue, rip the scarecrows out of the ground and then stomp on them," Wodell told the News Transcript.

Patrolman Sean Healy responded to the scene. The suspect was not at the scene, but Healy found a cell phone on the ground and determined that Necerato was the owner of the phone. After further investigation, Healy located Necerato at the Monmouth County

Court House on Court Street.

Wodell said when Healy arrived at the courthouse, Necerato approached him and asked the officer, "Are you looking for me?"

Wodell said Necerato told Healy that Jesus died on a cross and told the officer he believes scarecrow displays are offensive

and disrespectful to Jesus and to Christianity.

Healy arrested Necerato and charged him with criminal mischief. He was processed and released on summonses.

Kane said a lot of work goes into decorating the town for Halloween and she said nothing like this has happened in the 15 years that Spooktacular has been held.

The scarecrows that were damaged were sponsored and crafted by Federici's restaurant, Especially for You Florist, and Applebee's restaurant in Manalapan.

The scarecrows were expected to take their place on Main Street in time for Freehold's Halloween parade on Oct. 25.