At the Feb. 13 township committee meeting, a few members of the public offered their thoughts to Deputy Mayor Mario DiNatale on his recent brush with the law.
Last month, DiNatale was pulled over by Berlin Township police for having a failed inspection sticker and for having tinted windows.
DiNatale, the Voorhees Township Public Safety Director, said he did fail inspection after he bought the car in Pennsylvania. After a failed inspection, he had one month to make the changes needed to pass.
“I was a month overdue. I was wrong,” DiNatale said.
But the issue some residents have taken up with DiNatale isn’t so much over the failed inspection.
When he was pulled over last month, DiNatale said he showed the officer his license, registration and insurance in one hand, and a badge issued by the Voorhees Chief of Police in his other hand.
DiNatale said the officer asked him what the badge was, to which he responded, “I’m the Public Safety Director in Voorhees Township,” DiNatale said.
The officer, he said, then asked him if he was a police officer in Voorhees. DiNatale said he responded by saying “no.”
DiNatale has since turned in his badge to Police Chief Keith Hummel, who said, from the best of his knowledge, badges have been issued to the Public Safety Director since the 1980s.
Mayor Michael Mignogna said the badges are ceremonial and for identification purposes only.
Hummel said other members of township committee keep badges that read “Committee Member Voorhees Township.”
DiNatale also said he asked the police officer who stopped him to write him a ticket for his offense multiple times during the stop. DiNatale said the officer told him, “No, no, just go.”
At the committee meeting, Bob Monahan, a retired member of the Voorhees Township Police Department, addressed DiNatale about how the information was leaked to the media in the first place.
“I did not send an email. I did not call anybody,” Monahan said.
DiNatale said he had good reason to believe a retired police officer from the Fraternal Order of Police of South Jersey Lodge #56 leaked the information to the press.
DiNatale said he feels someone who wishes to run against him this fall leaked the information.
“It’s political season and I’m a punching bag up there. It’s a shame,” DiNatale said.
After Monahan’s comments at the meeting, DiNatale apologized.
“Bob, if it wasn’t you, I apologize.”
DiNatale said he personally apologized to Monahan after the meeting.
“I had the opportunity to speak with Bob Monahan and he assured me it was not him that sent the email,” DiNatale said.
Mignogna weighed in on the situation, saying he feels DiNatale has given the public an adequate response on the matter.
“Deputy Mayor DiNatale has addressed the issue at length at the last two public township committee meetings. He has assured the residents and the other members of Township Committee that the badge was used for identification, along with his license, registration and insurance card,” Mignogna said. “No tickets were issued and the deputy mayor took immediate steps to have his car inspected and remove the tinting from his car windows. For almost a decade, Deputy Mayor DiNatale has tirelessly served this community as committeeman, many of those years as the director of public safety.”
