New Jersey Democrat Gina LaPlaca and her estranged husband, Jason Carty, are facing a mounting collection of criminal allegations after Carty was arrested on another domestic violence charge and a judge stripped LaPlaca of a deal that could have kept her out of jail. The latest developments add to cases involving drunk driving with a child in the car, an allegedly fraudulent election petition, a suspended-license citation, and earlier domestic violence accusations. LaPlaca now faces possible incarceration on the child abuse charge to which she pleaded guilty.
LaPlaca is a former Lumberton mayor who continues to serve on the township committee, while Carty is a veteran Democratic operative and member of the Rancocas Valley Regional school board. The estranged couple’s legal problems have crossed into LaPlaca’s failed 2026 reelection campaign and Carty’s public positions. Both are also awaiting a September court appearance in the ballot-petition case.
The latest trouble began with an incident Tuesday at LaPlaca’s Lumberton home. LaPlaca contacted local police, and Carty was arrested Thursday on a third-degree aggravated assault charge. The new case is separate from the assault-by-strangulation and harassment charges filed against him following a May disturbance involving LaPlaca. Details of Tuesday’s alleged encounter remain limited, and Carty has not yet been convicted in either pending case.
The arrest coincided with a major setback for LaPlaca. The New Jersey Globe reported that Superior Court Judge Craig Ambrose terminated her participation in New Jersey’s Pretrial Intervention program on Thursday after the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office sought her removal. The program had offered LaPlaca a path to avoid a criminal record if she complied with its terms and stayed out of legal trouble for three years.
LaPlaca entered the program after pleading guilty in March to DUI and fourth-degree child abuse. Her case began on St. Patrick’s Day 2025, when police said she drove after drinking with her young child in her BMW. Officers measured her blood alcohol concentration at .30%, compared with New Jersey’s legal limit of .08%, and found open alcohol containers inside the damaged vehicle. Following her plea, LaPlaca admitted, “What I did was wrong. It was dangerous. It was inexcusable. I drove while intoxicated with my child in the car.”
Her driving problems did not end with that case. A Mount Laurel police officer stopped LaPlaca shortly before 8 a.m. on May 6th for an expired registration and issued her a summons for driving with a revoked license. LaPlaca claimed the Motor Vehicle Commission was mistaken because her license should have been restored on March 14th. “It’s a technical thing. I’m not too concerned about it,” she said. Her initial 90-day suspension had been reduced to 12 days because she installed an ignition-interlock device.
In August, prosecutors charged LaPlaca and Carty by summons over signatures submitted to place her on the June Democratic primary ballot. Multiple people whose names appeared on the nominating petition allegedly told investigators they neither signed it nor authorized anyone else to sign for them. Prosecutors said LaPlaca would have lacked the required number of signatures without the disputed names. LaPlaca faces five counts, including making a false statement under oath and knowingly filing a false petition, while Carty faces four counts involving the petition and public records.
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Carty’s previous domestic violence case arose from a May 28th disturbance at LaPlaca’s home. He was charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and harassment after LaPlaca accused him of trying to kill her. She later recanted in a sworn statement, saying, “I was under the influence, and behaving erratically,” and that the dispute had only been verbal. LaPlaca added that Carty had not assaulted her and asked prosecutors to dismiss the case, but the charges remained pending.
Authorities have not announced any charge against LaPlaca for filing a false police report. Following her removal from Pretrial Intervention, however, she now faces a presumption of incarceration on the fourth-degree child abuse charge, which can carry up to 18 months in prison. LaPlaca and Carty are scheduled to appear in Superior Court on September 21st concerning the pending election-petition allegations.
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