New Jersey gym owner Ian Smith has been cleared of nearly 80 charges after keeping his business open during COVID lockdowns.
Smith, along with co-owner Frank Trumbetti, were hit with more than 80 summonses and charged with violating a governor’s orders, operating without a mercantile license, creating a public nuisance, and disturbing the peace.
Smith’s company, Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, had been ordered to pay about $165,000 in state fines for violating the public health emergency rules issued by Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.
His lawyer, John McCann, said now that the local charges have been dismissed he is trying to determine if the state fines can be refunded.
“When you look at this, it didn’t make a lot of sense at the time,” McCann said. “It kind of looked like they were throwing everything they could at these guys.”
Smith took to social media to celebrate the victory.
“ALL OF THE 80+ municipal citations of violations of a governor’s order, public nuisance, disturbing the peace, and operating without a license against us have been dropped by the courts WITH prejudice. This means the State has NO ability to revisit or refile these charges. 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.
