Lesniak sues Patch for implicating him in wife’s death

Former State Sen. Raymond Lesniak has filed a libel and defamation lawsuit against Patch alleging libel and defamation after the local news website published a story in January alleging that a murder-for-hire scheme involving political consultant Sean Caddle had renewed interest in the tragic 2019 death of the ex-lawmaker’s wife.

The Flemington Patch carried a story headlined, “Lesniak minion’s murder plot kindles interest in wife’s death,” under the byline “Kendra McIntire, Neighbor.”

The article infers that Caddle’s admission that he hired a hitman to murder Michael Galdieri in Jersey City in 2014 had prompted law enforcement officials to reopen their investigation of the death of Salena Carroll Lesniak, suggesting that the former senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate might have somehow been connected to his wife’s death.

The lawsuit claims that as a result of false statements, Patch has portrayed Lesniak “before the public and his community in a false light, falsely suggesting that he engaged in criminal conduct  — the murder of his late wife.”

Caddle had done political work for Lesniak, including the management of a super PAC he was allied with.

But a search of public records, including voter registration and online phone directories, show nobody in New Jersey under the name Kendra McIntire. A search of Patch.com shows no other articles using that byline.

In what might be just a coincidence, the style of the story resembles other pieces written on the Internet by a onetime political associate of Lesniak who has been at the center of some political controversies.  The New Jersey Globe is withholding his name until more information emerges.

The article states that while Lesniak and Carroll had been together for about two decades, they had only been married for about a year.

“Is it possible that after seven decades of bachelorhood, the husband could not endure matrimonial stress?” the Patch article states.

The Patch story also states that “it is believed that Caddle has been cooperating with federal prosecutors since last fall, so rumors are flying over who the political consultant might betray to gather evidence sufficient to reduce his potential life sentence.”

“The article is replete with falsehoods and gross inaccurate statements of fact that constitute defamation,” the lawsuit states.  “The police are not investigating evidence of foul play in Ms. Carroll’s death, as the article states as fact.  Zero evidence has been put forth to suggest Ms. Carroll’s death was a homicide, and certainly none exists implicating (Lesniak).”

Patch ran the story on January 29 and later pulled it from their website.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner found that Mrs. Lesniak died on Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease and natural causes.

Lesniak is represented by Corrine M. Mullen of The Mullen Law Firm.

Patch is owned by Hale Global., a New York City-based company.

The lawsuit alleges that Patch or unnamed John Doe defendants “had knowledge as to the falsity of their representations and/or the false light in which (Lesniak) would be placed.

A former New Jersey Democratic State Chairman, Lesniak served in the state legislature for 44 years before giving up his seat to run for governor in 2017.