NJ mayor in rehab; family in pain: Husband breaks down over DWI arrest frenzy

🔴 Lumberton Mayor Gina LaPlaca is in a 30-day inpatient rehab facility

🔴 Her husband asked for the media to leave the family alone

🔴 The Township Committee has passed two resolutions about LaPlaca

LUMBERTON — The husband of embattled Mayor Gina LaPlaca has made another plea to the media to leave her alone after her high-profile DWI arrest with a water bottle of vodka and her child in the car.

LaPlaca was charged with driving under the influence and endangering a child after being stopped in the driveway of her Lumberton home on St. Patrick's Day.

Lumberton police released body cam footage of her sobriety test, arrest and her time in a holding cell.

According to her husband, Jason Carty, she is in a 30-day in-patient treatment program and has missed two township committee meetings.

Carty spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer and asked everyone to “leave her alone” so she could “get better.” He also said that LaPlaca missed their son’s third birthday and expressed frustration at the number of media outlets trying to talk to him.

Crushing media attention

“It’s not like she’s the mayor of some big city. Lumberton has only 13,000 people. All I want is for my wife to get better and for everyone to leave her alone,” Carty told the Inquirer.

“This is a crushing media cycle that just won’t end,” he told the Inquirer. “How many cycles do we need to do?”

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Township Committee takes action on mayor

The two township committee meetings since her arrest have been filled with comments from residents asking for her to resign or for the committee to remove her from office. According to the committee's attorney, the only way to remove the mayor is by a recall election. However, the board has taken two steps in reponse to LaPlaca's arrest.

After a 45-minute executive session during Thursday's meeting, the committee came back with two resolutions.

Resolution 2025-88 outlines three ethics violations by the mayor. According to township solicitor Wade Dickey, the first violation was asking for police Chief Anthony Nippens while she was being arrested.The second was for the child endangerment charges. The third is for the DWI charge

The resolution directs Dickey to request the State Ethics Board to conduct an independent investigation into the allegation.

Resolution 2025-87 declares that the committee is "concerned" about "inappropriate statements and actions" made by LaPlaca to township employees. It directs LaPlaca to "abide by the rules of conduct established by the State of New Jersey and the Township of Lumberton."

Both resolutions take effect immediately after being passed and seconded unanimously.

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