By: Najla Alexander
Authorities in Ocean County announced that on June 13, Mark Carey, Jr., 21, of South Amboy, was sentenced by the Honorable Kimarie Rahill, J.S.C., to six years New Jersey State Prison relative to his previously entered guilty plea to Knowingly Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident Resulting in the Death of Another in connection with a fatal hit and run crash that occurred on January 13, 2024, in the area of Route 35 South and Bay Avenue in Brick Township.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer stated that Carey pled guilty to the charge before Judge Rahill on April 3, 2025.
According to OCPO officials, on January 13, 2024, at approximately 9:15 a.m., officers from the Brick Township Police Department responded to the area of Route 35 South and Bay Avenue for a hit-and-run collision involving a pedestrian.
Responding Officers discovered that a vehicle had struck a female pedestrian, later identified as Julia Sutton, 56, of Weehawken, Hudson County, in the shoulder of the roadway and then fled the scene, OCPO officials say.
Ocean County officials said that Ms. Sutton was taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township, where she was pronounced deceased.
A thorough and extensive investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Vehicular Homicide Squad, Brick Township Police Department, and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit determined that the vehicle that struck and killed the victim was a 1999 Ford Explorer registered to Carey, Ocean County authorities say.
OCPO officials stated that further investigation identified Carey as the individual who operated the subject Ford Explorer at the time of the crash, which resulted in Ms. Sutton’s death.
Carey was taken into custody at his home in South Amboy without incident and thereafter processed at Brick Township Police Headquarters, according to Ocean County officials.
OCPO officials say that Carey was transported to the Ocean County Jail and subsequently released as a consequence of New Jersey's Bail Reform.