PLUMSTED TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A woman who told investigators that her boyfriend tried to burn and kill her in a wooded area of Plumsted Township has herself been charged with falsely incriminating him, after prosecutors concluded she gave false information about how she was injured, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced.
Source: Ocean County Prosecutor's Office
Chelsea Villano, 33, of Eatontown, was charged on October 23 with two counts of falsely incriminating another, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. She was taken into custody at Eatontown Police Headquarters and lodged in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.
Source: Ocean County Prosecutor's Office
The case began on October 15 at about 1:36 p.m., when Plumsted Township police and emergency medical services responded to a 911 call about a female burn victim near Hawkin Road and Success Road. Responders found Villano in distress and suffering from burns; she was taken to the Temple University Burn Center in Philadelphia, treated, and released days later, the prosecutor's office said.
During the initial investigation by the prosecutor's Major Crime Unit and the New Jersey Conservation Police, Villano claimed that while she, Justin Martin, 36, and another individual were in the wooded area, her boyfriend tried to burn and kill her. On October 16, at about 12:15 a.m., detectives located Martin in Asbury Park and arrested him on charges of attempted murder and aggravated arson; he was taken to the Ocean County Jail.
Martin was released from the jail on October 19. Court proceedings reported by NJ.com that day described a prosecutor telling a judge that recorded statements of the woman indicated Martin "didn't have anything to do with the assault on her," according to a Bergen TV account of the prosecutor's releases. The prosecutor's office said further investigation revealed that Villano "provided false information to law enforcement about how she sustained her injuries and who caused her injuries." Bergen TV, citing the prosecutor's October 24 release, reported that all charges against Martin were administratively dismissed in the interests of justice.
Source: Bergen TV
Prosecutor Billhimer credited the Major Crime Unit, the New Jersey Conservation Police, Plumsted Township police, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and the Asbury Park, Eatontown and Keansburg police departments and the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office. The charges against Villano are accusations, and she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.