Hoboken harassment case involving books and letters sent to officials’ homes resolved

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A Hoboken harassment case involving books and letters anonymously sent to a few official’s homes was resolved at the beginning of the summer after about 17 months of trying to reach a conclusion.

Photo via Wilkinson Publishing.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

A 72-page transcript of the June 23rd plea in Secaucus Municipal Court indicates that Mayor Ravi Bhalla, his brother, Amardeep Singh Bhalla, Council President Emily Jabbour, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, Nancy Pincus, and Kim Gerlach all filed citizen’s complaints against Matt Majer claiming he harassed them by sending items to their homes in February 2022.

The packages were sent shortly after the board of education’s $241 million high school referendum backed by Bhalla and his allies failed by about a 2-to-1 margin. Majer was a part of the group that openly opposed the measure.

” … I don’t think the context of the political nature really is relevant here, Judge, because the defendant, he sent these items, whatever his intent was for sending the items, it wasn’t done in a political fashion,” said Secaucus Municipal Prosecutor TJ Legg.

” … One suggesting oral sex, another one asking what your kids would think of you based on the way you’re acting. So there were other comments, not the ones that Counsel refers to, that were much more alarming, that were much more serious … When I watched Ms. Jabbour’s reaction in speaking to the police, sure in the beginning she was very cavalier and very, oh, this is just a political thing, until she mentioned the note referring to her children. At which point her demeanor changed.”

Secaucus Municipal Court Judge Karen Boylan, who heard the case once it was transferred out of Hoboken due to elected officials being involved, was critical of Majer sending a note in Hindi to the mayor and his brother.

“I don’t know if you used Babbel to translate into Hindi, I don’t know why it was sent to the people that it was sent, I just know that you present yourself as a good citizen, right, committed to your town and concerned about the fiscal responsibility or whatever your issues were, right, which are logical and rational; and then you behave like a fourth grader, right? I mean truly like a fourth grader,” she stated on the record.

Ultimately, Majer pleaded guilty to one count of harassment against Gerlach, who was the administrator for an unnamed Hoboken Facebook group, for sending her a copy of “The Babylon Bee’s Guide to Wokeness.”

He also entered into a 12-month conditional dismissal program, which would give him a clean record if he stays out of legal trouble for a year. The court indicated that he had no priors, which made him eligible for the program.

“Factual basis for that complaint of harassment will include allocution as to having
committed the same act to a total of four parties, Ms. Gerlach being one of them, the other three being Ms. Pincus, Ms. Jabbour, and Mr. [Ravi Bhalla],” Legg also said, per the transcript.

Under those conditions, everyones besides Gerlach agreed to drop their complaints, the court transcript shows.

There is also a mutual no contact order, with all parties agreeing not to file civil lawsuits as well. Majer is still allowed to attend public meetings such as those of the city council.

The court also noted that his actions likely wouldn’t have been considered threatening or harassing if he hadn’t sent the packages anonymously. The transcript also did not mention how he was identified as the sender.

Majer was represented by Joseph Maurice, a partner at Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann & Knopf LLP. They both did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.

In a lengthy statement, Singh Bhalla claimed that the contents of the packages Majer sent to their homes contained “racially charged, threatening, sexually suggestive, and highly offensive messages” that were also hateful and brought grief to their families.

“We are responding as a means of education for the public, and to send a clear message that threatening and harassing behavior is not acceptable and will be addressed in accordance with the law,” he said.

“I am also ready to move on. Mr. Majer has accepted responsibility for his actions, and my Sikh faith requires me to forgive him and accept him as a contributing member of our wonderful town. Again, these actions do not reflect our everyday experience of Hoboken as a broad, diverse and welcoming community.”


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65 COMMENTS

    • Don’t send joke books to NJ officials and their paid henchmen. It’s criminal. Or something. These officials and their paid ops claimed so. Then they “settled” because political speech isn’t a crime in NJ. Not yet anyway. They’re working on Thought Crimes though in DC.

      This must be the guy who annoyed Ravi with email which was declared a “threat on his life” so Hoboken police officers could spend lavish taxpayer paid time driving the mayor around town and opening his car door on Washington St. when he gets coffee. Dollars to donuts I’d bet that’s how Ravi got his personal security detail.

      • That’s awfully specific, isn’t it. Why would you call them “emails”? How do you know they were emails? Not phone calls? Not mail? Not on a thumb drive? No, you called the death threats “emails ”

        Clearly you obsess 24/7 over the mayor and “terror fliers”… and you think death threats are “annoying?” You’re even trying to hijack the story about Matt Majer and his 6 harassment charges with your own Ravi, Ravi, Ravi agenda.

        “Emails ” What a tell. Seems like you’re trying to throw the Feds off your trail. So many crazies in Hoboken.

        • No one annoyed Ravi with an email? Ravi is taking the Hoboken taxpayers to the cleaners every which way. Death threats to the entire family; sure, I believe that.

          Now that Ravibot Terror Flier operation…

        • Terror Flier guy tries to blame Matt Majer.

          Terror Flier guy calls death threats “emails” when they have not been publicly identified

          Terror Flier guy calls death threats “annoying.” Death threats are not “annoying” they are death threats.

          Terror Flier guy pretends not to know that the mayor’s children were threatened with death and require police escorts to school.

          Yep, very suspicious. Go get him, Feds!

        • Why are you trying to deflect from your boss about the Ravibot Terror Flier operation? Ravi is skimming off taxpayers living large over political critiques not any death threat. Law enforcement knows it.

          You have proof of these family death threats, show it. There will be nothing shown because that would undo Ravi’s protection racket fleecing Hoboken taxpayers.

          • Knock, knock.
            -Who’s there?
            The Feds. Are you the Terror Flier Guy?
            – Yes.
            Open the door before we break it down!
            -Okay, okay.
            Drop that carrot! Hands in the air! You’re under arrest!

    • Companies don’t like google-able employees. It’s a matter of risk management on the reputation side. Follow up the stories of the Karen’s of the last few years. if you dig a little, you find they usually got fired. Don’t know this guy’s story. But wouldn’t be surprised if he was “invited to leave.” Even if you don’t mention the company in your social media postings, the company can take the position that you harmed them or otherwise violated the terms of your employment. Call it woke, communist, marxist, whatever floats your boat. Companies are there to make money and they see having an employee who is publicly known this way as making that objective needlessly harder to achieve.

      The weirdest part is that he did all this after the campaign he supported won easily. That frankly is deranged.

  1. Charming, handsome, gregarious by day. By night, he harvests home addresses of his targets, writes notes to them that are “threatening” and “suggesting oral sex” and “racially charged”, sends these notes to their home with “items.”

    What kind of adult man, apparently “normal” by day, commits such cruel, malicious, disgusting, evil acts by night? Did he ever apologize to his victims? Or does he feel like a victim because he got caught… (I assume) the HPD identified him and so did “QR codes.” I’m guessing it’s the latter- no remorse, no contrition, no empathy, didn’t learn a thing– except maybe to do it better next time.

    In my view his victims let him off easy. This should have gone to trial. Now with time it will disappear like it never happened.

    • Giving someone a copy of “The Babylon Bee’s Guide to Wokeness” is a crime.

      Thought all these hardcore Regressives were tough guys. Turns out they are a bunch of fairies who wilt at the first sign of comedy. Hilarious!

      Same people who are stunning and brave for wanting to hand out instruction manuals in animation of 10-year old boys giving “older” boys oral sex. For that, they go to the mats to defend as “books.”

    • What does sending ANONYMOUS “items” to people’s private homes where they live with their FAMILIES plus LETTERS that are “threatening” and “suggesting oral sex” and “racially charged” letters have to do with “book sanctuary”? Are you really a moron or do you play one on HCV? My guess is you’re one of Matt Majer’s associates or the devil himself.

      John, it would really clarify the confusion if you linked the hearing transcript.

  2. Same here. And I’m not a city official, just a parent who disagreed with him on the high school referendum. What a pathetic, angry little man. I pity his wife.

    • I’m told she sat there in court and heard all the ugly details directly from the victims when they gave their impact statements. I also heard Matt Majer was given an opportunity to speak, to apologize to his victims which he declined. I heard he showed no remorse. Did his wife kick him to the curb like any sensible woman would after learning about his evil deeds or stand by her man? Unless she kicked him to the curb where he belongs I’ll save my pity for his victims.

  3. Is Matt Majer a jerk? Yes. Did he violate harassment laws for no reason? Yes. Despite all of this, it should be noted that none of the Team Bhalla supporters who harass Team Bhalla opponents would ever have criminal charges filed against them for what they do every election cycle. Emily is constantly able to play the victim card while being the attacker. Emily was involved in a whisper campaign attacking Pavel for not having any kids, but is able to play the victim card because she is a woman, and is able to get the police to listen to her because she is rich, white, and on the city council. Emily called the cops on people handing out vote no lit in Columbus Park during the referendum, while “Leadership That Listens” handed out lit with her in Church Square park during the November election last year. Matt Majer is a jerk, he just has the misfortune of being an jerk who opposes the administration.

    • I did not receive a book. I received an item. A very peculiar and unwelcome item which suggested the unknown Sender was a kook or stalker. Then I read l note it came with: it was signed: “From (solicitation for oral sex). That frightened and disgusted me. It was revolting. I didn’t know at the time who sent it and had NO IDEA anyone else got one of these. I learned that it was from “Matt” when I scanned the QR code on the “send a thank you card” QR code. I did not have the full identity of the sender, nor verification that it was a real or fake name. I called the police. Again I had NO idea that “Matt” had sent these to others. About a month later, the HPD called to say they had IDed the sender: Matt Majer. Then I was able to file a formal complaint.

      What was “politically motivated” about sending a creepy ANONYMOUS “item” with a sexually demeaning note to my HOME where my DAUGHTER lives? If your wife/ sister/ girlfriend/ mother got one of these, what would you do? Would you worry about some psycho out there and what would come next? I did.

      If there was any “political motivation” to this, anyone of us could have leaked this to the media during the 17 months of litigation, which would have drawn attention. No one wanted attention. It was traumatic. And, no one consulted me about handing this to the media. But now that it’s out, I will provide clarification on false assumptions from morons like you.

      Finally, Matt Majer ordered the Amazon “gifts”:days AFTER the Jan. HS vote. The political battle had been won- his side. So, tell me what was the purpose of sending anonymous “gifts” with grossly offensive and scary notes? Rhetorical question.

      Lastly, the title of this article should be corrected. This case was not “resolved” it was SETTLED. That is the correct legal term. Nothing was resolved- victims consented to a series of terms in a settlement negotiated between the prosecutor and Matt Majer’s defense attorney. Not all of us were happy about it.

      Lastly, in all my years of activity in Hoboken politics, no one EVER sent anything to my home where my FAMILY is. No one.

      – Nancy

    • Why are you blathering on about Emily? It was harassment of a private citizen he pled guilty to. And just pointing out that three out of the six citizen complaints were by private citizens who are not elected officials or candidates. Citizens should be able to state an opinion on social media and not be subject to anonymous packages with threatening notes. This is not normal behavior by a grown middle aged man with a fair amount of intelligence. I don’t buy the boo-hoo, poor Matt can’t help being a jerk. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he is so wrapped up in his hatred that he doesn’t care.

    • Hi Tiffanie

      Please defend Matt more it looks good on you

      You both deserve to be alone. Ur already there and hopefully his wife has soem decency and leaves his a$$. Then you two can be alone together

  4. This “gentleman” sought out elected officials’ + private citizens’ home addresses so that he could send them what, in one case, sounds like, perhaps, a dildo (?) with a “gift message” that sounds like it may have said “From, Suck My ****?”. He spent his time & money on this endeavor, presumably because he thought it was “funny” & brought him some sort of personal joy/satisfaction? Did I get that right?

  5. If I wasn’t blocked for disagreeing with the admin, I’d post this on the Hoboken Uptown FB group – neighbors have a right to know the psycho living among us. Of course said psycho is the admin so it wouldn’t see the light of day.

    • Matt Mejer is a prolific poster of local news stories and never misses a beat when it comes to posting negative things about people that he decides to target. But, you know that if anyone tries to post a link to this article on Hoboken Uptown, he will remove it.

        • To be fair, bloggers such as Kurt, Roman and Nancy advocated for Hoboken government officials and against local political corruption. Nancy was more clever about it, true- funnier and creative. Roman’s content was unreadable, and Kurt unstable- kept quitting and starting up again, then got silly.

          To be fair, there is no comparison between opinion blogging and stalking individuals on their Facebook pages. From stalking Facebook pages to sending letters and items to their homes is crossing a legal line.

          • Going too far and crossing lines appears to be a shared trait between both Matt and Nancy. There was those many highly questionable attacks on Nancy’s inflammatory political blog made on Councilwoman Mason, the Bajardi’s and their child, Councilman DeFusco and others along with her decision her use of Nazi tropes. Matt was wrong but Nancy in my opinion not claim any moral high ground.

          • Matt Majer committed six crimes against six public and private Hoboken residents. Matt Majer broke the law. Comparing that with free speech you don’t like makes you an idiot. The Jewish woman you FALSELY and most offensively smear with “Nazi tropes” won an 8 year court battle against slugs like you – she beat Bajardi, who folded like a lawn chair.and settled in her favor and got nothing. Nada! Zip!

          • Nancy was ok when she was funny. That was a long time ago and then she wasn’t funny, just nasty. She never could touch the reach of Hoboken Mile Square View and was quite jealous.

            He went on to lead an effort to recognize victims of the Hoboken Fires and was attacked for it. Who led that ugly attack? Nancy and the Ravibot gang.

            Wish he would come back. Hoboken is sliding.

  6. Matt Majer’s note to Emily: ”

    “Show your children how to behave lest you be exposed too. It is coming. From NP”

    You still think the issue is about book sanctuary? Or is it sending an anonymous threat to her HOME about her CHILDREN: “it is coming.”

    Dude is one twisted puppy. You’ll find him on Reddit downvoting posts like the Energizer Bunny on this crossposted article. For example, one comment went from +6 to -32 in minutes. The downvotes are in double digits! lol

    https://reddit.com/r/Hoboken/s/cQ83vyQOaZ

    • Exposed to what, the groomer materials that these same officials publicly promoted to hand out to children in Hoboken as “books?”

      Take a look at your twisted, sick reflection in the mirror. Sickos!

  7. There is no Neil Stratmann in the state of NY, NJ, CT, PA or anywhere for that matter. Made up.

    No she did not. A lie. A lie from a troll with a fake name. A troll. Matt Majer, is that you? “Terror Flier” guy is that you? Both of you have much in common!

  8. 1. Would you send an anonymous note to a human being’s home address saying “it is coming,” while referencing their children who reside in their home? If so, why? If not, why not?

    2. If you received an anonymous note at home saying “it is coming,” that referenced your children living at home, would you be fearful? If so, why? If not, why not?

  9. It is not logical to conflate harassment charges – that have been settled in court of law via a guilty plea – with thoughts, opinions, and/or actions that do not meet a criminal threshold. If someone endures criminal activity, a proper channel is to report the criminal activity to law enforcement.

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