Bergenfield, NJ – Father and Son charged with abuse of their 84-year-old mother/grandmother FREE TO GO under NJ Bail Reform

Vance Willard, Stephen Willard

Vance Willard, 58, and Stephen Willard, 25, were both charged with abuse in denying their 84-year-old mother/grandmother necessities and selling her valuables.

Despite this sickening case of elderly abuse, both Father and Son were released and FREE TO GO under NJ Bail Reform guidelines after the “Pretrial Risk Assessment” tool determined that they were not a danger to the community or a flight risk and therefore should not be subject to any accountable release – just a “promise” to appear.


Another “validated pretrial risk assessment” Failure.

New Jersey Bail Reform, Risk Assessments, and Pretrial Release Services…

  • ZERO Accountability
  • ZERO Deterrent
  • ZERO Supervision
  • ZERO concern for victims
  • ZERO Bail…just a “pinky promise” to return
  • Bail Reform – Dangerous, Reckless, and a Taxpayer Burden

Bergenfield PD: Father, Son Abused Mom/Grandmother, 84

(reported by Jerry DeMarco of the Daily Voice – July 18 2017)

UPDATE: A local judge on Tuesday freed a father and son charged with denying their 84-year-old mother/grandmother necessities and selling her valuables.

An 84-year-old woman was denied necessities and had her valuables stolen and sold by her son and grandson, Bergenfield police charged.

The elder abuse case began with the July 5 burglary of a Willow Street home, Capt. Mustafa Rabboh said.

The 58-year-old victim told responding officers that she’d returned from work to find rear window broken, Rabboh said.

They traced a blood trail from the sill to an open garage in the rear yard of a home shared by Vance Willard, 61, and his son, Stephen Willard, 25, he said.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence, and police the next day interviewed the Willards, the captain said.

Both had stolen cash and jewelry during the break-in, he said.

Vance Willard was released pending a court hearing on charges of burglary, hindering apprehension and obstructing a government function, Rabboh said.

Stephen Willard was temporarily held in the Bergen County Jail before a judge ordered him released, under New Jersey’s 2017 Bail Reform & Speedy Trail Act, pending court action on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

While continuing their investigation, police learned that Vance and Stephen Willard “were engaged in activities [that] victimized their 84 year old elderly mother/grandmother, by failing to provide and withhold certain necessities and removing and selling items from her residence.”

They rearrested the pair, who remained held in the county lockup this time pending the outcome of elder abuse and fencing charges, in addition to the previous counts.

Read more…


You’ve been LIED to New Jersey…NJ Bail Reform is RECKLESS, DANGEROUS, and YOU are PAYING for it.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.


https://www.usbailreform.com/pine-hill-nj-man-charged-2nd-degree-manslaughter-free-go-nj-bail-reform/