Two Ocean County Bias Charge Cases Head for Resolutions

A bias-intimidation suspect from one end of Ocean County appears headed for trial, and one from the opposite end waits for sentencing following proceedings in county courtrooms.

Bias intimidation is categorized in the fourth degree, with a sentence on conviction that can run as high as a year and a half.

Scott Cooney, 45, of Lakewood, was indicted on December 17, according to information from the office of Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato.

Cooney is accused of anti-gay and anti-Semitic harassment in the aftermath of his August 13 arrest. Alleged victims reported a string of verbal threats that they said culminated on August 10, when Cooney is believed to have carved a swastika on the front lawn of a home, using a lead pipe, authorities said.

The alleged targets photographed the damage and sent it to Lakewood police, who took Cooney into custody, investigators said.

David Smith, 25, of Little Egg Harbor, pleaded guilty to bias intimidation, and a third-degree charge of resisting arrest, on December 19, authorities said.

Smith allegedly let fly a flurry of racial slurs at an African-American man who walked past his home in 2012, leading to a fight between the two that eventually brought police into the altercation.

Smith's sentencing date is pending. He faces up to 270 days (nine months) in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, along with probation, anger management, substance abuse counseling and community service, authorities said.