We Need to Talk About Justin Meehan

We love a good redemption story. This isn’t one of them.

From the CJN Editorial Board

Aside from being caught with 4 unprescribed doses of oxycodone in Sayreville and forging a prescription for the same in Neptune, Meehan’s extended rap sheet shows a history of bad decisions, not a one time mistake.

With respect to esteemed local Middletown reporter Carly Baldwin of the Patch, CJN did some more digging as promised to our audience. It turns out that a simple incident was not isolated, but part of a long strain of incidents over the course of a decade.

Middletown, 1999

An 18-year old Meehan was charged with Disorderly Conduct - Disturbing the Peace. It was originally Stolen Property-Knowing Property Was Stolen. An OPRA request to Middletown yielded no further reports, but this seems like a stellar way to kick off adulthood. 

Ocean City, 2001

Meehan is charged with an alcohol offense. An OPRA request yielded no further details.

Oceanport, 2005

Meehan was charged with Unsafe Operation of a Vehicle. At 2:04 AM, Meehan was pulled over by police for going over the traffic lanes. With all due respect to the good people of Oceanport, what was a Belford man doing there at 2:04 in the morning?

The case was disposed of in December of that year.

Holmdel, 2004

Meehan is charged with Using or Possessing with Intent to Use Drug Paraphernalia. An OPRA request to Holmdel yielded no results due to what is believed to be a sealed criminal investigation, but we’re now seeing a pattern every 2-3 years…

Union Beach, 2006

At 9:41 PM on February 21st, Meehan was driving along with his friend Sean Carkeek when the latter was pulled over for a broken tail light. The Officer smelled marijuana emanating from the vehicle. Meehan admitted to smoking some prior to operating the vehicle. Carkeek and five-foot-five Meehan now stood outside the vehicle in the cold bayshore winter.

The police report indicates that responding officers found “a small baggie containing a greenish vegetative substance.” Neither Carkeek nor Meehan claimed ownership of the contraband. They were brought to Headquarters for further questioning after a “glass pipe containing a burnt residue and a marijuana cigarette, which [Carkee] said was placed into a Pepsi can” was also recovered from their car.

Meehan was charged with Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance of Less than 50 grams of Marijuana and 5g of Hashish. The case was later disposed on May 17th.

Middletown, 2008

Going back to where this pilgrimage of debauchery started, Meehan is charged with Careless Driving: Likely to Endanger [a] Person or Property. 

Sayreville & Neptune, 2009

When the Patch dropped their article on Justin Meehan’s 2009 drug charges, the Be the Change slate of Middletown Board of Ed Candidates immediately charged author Carly Baldwin, in their opening sentence, as being associated with the Putting Children First team and running a coordinated smear campaign. That was at 11:38 on October 5th.

Three hours later, Meehan emerged on the Be the Change Facebook page with a statement.

“The facts of the article, while muddled, were based in truth,” said Meehan. “In 2009, I was arrested for charges that reflected a poor decision I made to attempt to fill an unlawful prescription. At that time, I chose to cooperate with the police and all charges against me were dropped.” Justin Meehan wasn’t some troubled youth–he was approx. 28 years old at the time of these charges, and - per the New Jersey State Police, this report could not be released due to it being yet another sealed criminal investigation.

The rest of the statement read like a Shawshank-esque redemption story for Meehan, who finally addressed the 15 year old specter haunting him. A smear campaign with “muddled truth” morphed into a sophomoric press release that confirmed the Patch’s findings over the course of three hours.

If the Guinness Book of World Records is reading this, I’d like to nominate Carly Baldwin for fastest vindication.

Patch’s Baldwin did a stellar job of recapping the charges of Forgery and Improper Behavior. We won’t dare eclipse her work to that end, but after diving further into Meehan’s rap sheet, we’re left with one thing that police reports and OPRA requests cannot determine: a man’s judgment.

Middletown, 2023

Meehan’s sordid past began when he was 18 and ended when he was 28. During that time, he went from working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car to a few teaching jobs, to now being a Business Education Teacher Old Bridge, per his Facebook profile. Meehan also coaches youth soccer.

While yes, it is indeed true that someone cannot teach in public schools if they have ever been convicted of a crime, we in the court of public opinion have every right to question a man’s judgment. Baldwin also noted that he became involved in a DEA investigation and his friend (who he previously blamed for the forged prescription) felt the tremor of the judge’s gavel, not Meehan.

There’s something to be said for throwing your friends under the bus when you're complicit with their actions. There’s many names for it, the one that comes to mind is usually something of the rodent variety.

Meehan’s Facebook post July 11, 2020 gives good insight into how his judgment could be dealt with by Middletown voters. After seemingly losing his job.at St. John Vianney, Meehan took to Facebook looking for work as anyone would:

“Not looking for sympathy at all,” as he was looking for people to vouch for him to find work, presumably for a teaching position. Surely an exhaustive background check from both any new employer, especially one with a majority of minor, impressionable children would see his rap sheet of a new charge every two years for a decade.

How was that passed? What process exists to allow someone who was caught distributing drugs, forging fake prescriptions, and throwing friends under the bus to be in a position to coach children academically or athletically? We all fall short of our best selves and anyone who ascends the ladder of self-improvement should be roundly applauded, but the sacrifice goes beyond redemption.

One can be redeemed, and more power to them - but can they be trusted by the public again, especially when they have not one but two sealed criminal investigations, whose contents are not made publicly available and voters are left to rely solely on Meehan;s word?

That’s another investigation for another time, but what we can discern is that Justin Meehan’s judgment, past, and questionable motives for a BOE seat is not one of muddle truth and conspiracies– it’s a record, and one that Middletown voters should take into question.

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