15 Lakewood, Brooklyn Residents Charged After 60-Person Public Funeral Held in Lakewood

The Lakewood, N.J. police shield. (Credit: LPD/Facebook)

Another fifteen people are the latest Lakewood residents to be charged after allegedly ignoring Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order to shelter in place during the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.

Lakewood police officers were dispatched April 1 at 6:30 p.m. to the the corner of 8th Street and Madison Avenue. The officers found a group of about 60 to 70 individuals gathered for a funeral, a statement from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said.

“As Officers tried to disperse the crowd, the crowd became unruly and argumentative,” the statement from spokesman Bryan Huntenberg said. “Additional Officers from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist with dispersing the crowd.”

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As the officers were collecting names from funeral attendees, one individual refused to identify himself, according to police. This individual was later identified as Samuel Manheim, 27, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Manheim, police said, originally gave officers a false name and social security number. After several attempts to positively identify Manheim were unsuccessful, he was placed under arrest and charged with hindering his own apprehension as well as failing to observe the coronavirus order.

The following people were charged:

• Joel Jakubowitz, 36, of Brooklyn, New York
• Marcus Strulovic, 43, of Lakewood
• David Kaf, 37, of Lakewood
• Moshe Friedman, 20, of Lakewood
• Nossom Strulovic, 25, of Lakewood
• Solomon Strulovic, 21, of Lakewood
• Joel Strulovic, 39, of Lakewood
• Yosef Kohn, 35, of Lakewood
• Mitchell Strulovic, 24, of Lakewood
• Alexander Ellison, 64, of Lakewood
• Mordechi Strulovic, 18, of Lakewood
• Shimon Cardozo, 25 of Lakewood
• Shimon Hus, 18, of Brooklyn, New York
• Bernard Strulovic, 45, of Lakewood.

“The Governor has banned all public gatherings during this state and national public health emergency.  This ban applies to everyone,” said Prosecutor Billhimer. “To be blunt, ignoring the Governor’s Order places lives at risk – not just the lives of everyday citizens, but the lives of our brave men and women in law enforcement who are required to respond in order to break up these unlawful gatherings.”

He went on: “I am imploring everyone to abide by the governor’s order and stay at home, so that we might all get through this very difficult time together — as painlessly as possible.”

Lakewood, by far, leads Ocean County in coronavirus infections, at 524 as of Tuesday night.