EAST RUTHERFORD — A judge on Wednesday dismissed a criminal mischief charge against a former Becton Regional High School student accused of drawing in a bathroom at the school, with the court requiring that the youth later provide proof that he has enlisted in the U.S. Corps.
Judge George Savino, sitting in East Rutherford Municipal Court, dismissed the charge against Dean Kaye, 18, of Carlstadt. But the judge told the teenager he would have to send the court a letter verifying that he had, in fact, enlisted in the military.
At a May hearing, Kaye entered a not-guilty plea to criminal mischief, an accusation he faced when Becton officials on April 27 found two of the Nazi symbols inside a restroom, with one drawn on the wall and the other carved into the wall of one of the stalls, borough police said. After an investigation, Kaye was charged in the incident.
At his first court hearing, Kaye told Savino that he planned to join the after he graduated from Becton in June. The judge told Kaye to return to court on June 22, Wednesday, and to bring documents showing that he was enlisting.
At Wednesday’s proceeding a recruiter, a sergeant who didn’t identify herself by name, told Savino that Kaye had applied to enlist in the service. But she said that Kaye could not be accepted if he had an outstanding charge pending against him.
“I’m prepared to dismiss it,” Savino told her. And then he did, telling Kaye that the court would need the letter.
