Readington women who planted recording device to eavesdrop on GOP local offices to get PTI

Two Readington Township Republicans are expected to be admitted to a pre-trial intervention program for planting a recording device at a local restaurant and recording a private meeting of two elected officials from a rival GOP faction, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

Christina Albrecht and Jacqueline Hindle were arrested in October on charges that they violated the New Jersey Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.  Albrecht faces charges of burglary and wiretapping charges, and Hindle faces charges of conspiracy to disclose an illegally obtained recording and wiretapping charges.

The two will appear before Superior Court Judge Christopher J. Garrenger on Monday.

The PTI program is traditionally open to first-time, non-violent offenders.   Albrecht and Hindle could avoid a criminal record after successfully completing the program.  It’s unclear how long the PTI period will be, or if Garrenger will issue a no-contact order to keep the two away from the local elected officials.

Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson alleged that Albrecht, whose husband, former Mayor Ben Smith, lost a Republican primary for township committee in June, placed an audio recording device on July 1 to capture private, oral communications between Mayor Adam Mueller and Deputy Mayor Vinny Panico.  Albrecht later returned to The Rail, a local eatery, and retrieved the device – and then allegedly uploaded the recordings to a shared drive with Hindle, who ran on a GOP ticket with Smith.

One week later, prosecutors claim Albrecht returned to The Rail while it was closed and planted the device again.  That device was detected and turned over to local law enforcement.

Later, Albrecht and Hindle conspired to purchase another device in another bid to record Mueller and Panico covertly.

Albrecht allegedly was captured on a security camera placing and retrieving the device near a table where Mueller and Panico regularly sat after meetings.   The summons served on her today claims that Albrecht “conducted prior surveillance by taking a picture of them dining at The Rail before placing the device to ensure she placed it in the proper location.”

Mueller and another incumbent, R. Juergen Huelsebusch defeated Hindle, a planning board member, and Smith, by a 2-1 margin.

Albrecht and Hindle are connected to Councilman John Albanese, Jr., who was arrested at his home in May after stealing political signs from the other GOP faction, who had placed electronic tracking devices on their signs.  His trial is set for this month.

The backdrop to the story is a bitter internal fight between moderate old-guard Republicans and a newer, significantly more conservative faction in a Hunterdon County municipality split by supporters and opponents of Donald Trump.

The two factions have been in a civil war since 2022 when three-term Township Committeewoman Betty Anne Fort, a Republican rabidly opposed to Trump, lost the primary by a 2-1 margin to  Panico, a former president of the Hunterdon Central Regional Board of Education who ran off the line with the blessing of party leaders.

Fort had endorsed Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) in 2020 over Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and contributed $7,900 to his 2020 and 2022 campaigns.  That cost her re-election.

Last year, two incumbents from the moderate faction, Albanese and Jonathan Heller, lost party support but ran off the line and narrowly won the GOP primary.

Mueller and another incumbent, R. Juergen Huelsebusch defeated Hindle, a former planning board member, and Smith, by a 2-1 margin.

Like many local government fights, tensions are running high.  There have been allegations of sign stealing over the last few years – some Republicans were informally caught swiping Kean placards in 2022 after a hunting camera was used to keep watch.

The conservative faction grew tired of playing the game and built out an independent sting operation.

They decided to attach Apple AirTags to repurposed signs from Kean’s 2022 race with a severe anti-Malinowski message and position them adjacent to the Smith and Hindle signs.

The AirTags allowed the group to ping the sign to determine its exact location.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment.