Prosecutors today charged two Readington Township women connected to a faction of the local Republican Party with planting a recording device at a local restaurant to record a private meeting of two elected officials who were their political opponents.
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson alleges that Christina 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 Jacqueline Hindle, who ran on a GOP ticket with Smith.
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. Albanese is also under investigation for being involved in the wiretapping incident, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
The two women are charged with violating 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.
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 covertly record Mueller and Panico.
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.”
“Albrecht retrieved the device, then shared the recording of the oral communication with Jacqueline Hindle, who uploaded the recording to a shared drive,” the summons read. Albrecht then transcribed the recording and sent the transcription to Hindle. Text messages between Albrecht and Hindle also discuss the recording at length.”
Albrecht and Hindle are due to appear before a Judge on October 30. Both face multiple years in a state prison.
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 conservative Vinny 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.
Albanese had admitted guilt, but has petitioned Superior Court Judge Kevin Shanahan to dismiss the charges under the state’s de minimis law when a judge finds that the offense was “too trivial” to merit prosecution. In court filings, he equated the charges against him to be akin to a 1984 ruling that dismissed shoplifting charges against a defendant who stole three pieces of bubble gum valued at fifteen cents.
Shanahan heard the motion more than two weeks ago, but has not made a ruling. If he dismisses the case, it could open the door to legalizing the theft of up to six lawn signs per person.
Mueller and Panico called the alleged actions of Albrecht and Hindle a “gross violation of our privacy.”
“The discovery of this illegal recording device was a shocking invasion of our personal conversations. It’s disappointing that individuals have chosen such underhanded methods to monitor our discussions,” they said. “Our top priority now is to ensure that justice is served and that this behavior is addressed swiftly and appropriately.”
Mueller and Panico said the alleged actions “are neither appropriate nor acceptable in any form of governance.”
“While this experience has been personally unsettling, we are confident that the justice system will hold those responsible accountable. We will not be deterred from doing what is right for our community,” the two elected officials stated.