A New Jersey mayor caught in March drunk while driving with her young son in the car has been charged with child endangerment and child abuse.
Gina LaPlaca, 46, was indicted on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse by a Burlington County grand jury on Thursday.
A witness reported a swerving driver, and their license plate number, to Lumberton police on March 17 around 6 p.m. The witness told police the car crossed the center line multiple times and went off onto the grass, but that they became concerned when noticing there was a child in the car.
Police arrived at LaPlaca’s residence as she was getting her son out of the back seat of a car. Officers told her that multiple reports had been made.
LaPlaca first denied drinking, then admitted she had before picking her young son up from daycare. In the car, officers found an empty miniature liquor bottle, a water bottle with what appeared to be vodka and another liquid.
Body camera footage showed her staggering and stumbling — at one point even bursting into tears — during a field sobriety test. A damaged sideview mirror can also be seen on the video. It’s unknown when the damage actually occurred.
At the police station, she reportedly asked an officer to call the chief. LaPlaca was issued seven motor vehicle citations.
Despite calls for her to step down, she returned to work in May after supposedly attending an inpatient rehab program for substance abuse.
“I am now undergoing intensive outpatient treatment three hours a day, five days a week,” she said at a May 15 committee meeting.
An arraignment hearing on the charges is scheduled for Dec. 8. If convicted, LaPlaca could face nearly 12 years in prison, a $150,000 fine, be forced to resign as mayor and lose custody of her son.
