By Tim Zatzariny Jr.
For OCNJ Daily
A hearing at which a new trial date was to be set for a former Ocean City beach tag supervisor accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage female beach-fee collector has been postponed.
Charles E. Cusack, 51, was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Cape May Court House on Tuesday (March 3) for a status conference. But the hearing is being delayed because Cusack’s attorney, Louis M. Barbone of Atlantic City, is awaiting a verdict in unrelated criminal trial involving a police officer he represents in Gloucester County.
Cusack’s hearing has been rescheduled for Friday, March 13. Jury selection in his trial was previously set to begin Feb. 23, but was delayed because Barbone was involved in the other trial.
Cusack, a retired Ocean City police officer, was charged in August 2012 with one second-degree count of sexual assault and one second-degree count of endangering the welfare of a child. A superseding indictment handed up by a Cape May County grand jury in February 2015 added a second-degree charge of official misconduct against Cusack. If convicted, he faces five to 10 years in state prison on each of the charges, including a mandatory minimum of five years in prison for official misconduct.
And, if he were to be convicted on the sex assault charge, Cusack would have to register as a sex offender for life under Megan’s Law.
Cusack was arrested in August 2012 after he allegedly had a two-month sexual relationship with the girl, who was 17 at the time, authorities said. He has been free since posting $150,000 bond shortly after his arrest. Authorities have released no additional details about the victim, or about Cusack’s alleged sexual relationship with her.
In New Jersey, the age of consent is 16. But Cusack was charged under a provision in state statute that makes it illegal for a person to have sex with someone over whom he or she has supervisory authority when an alleged victim is 16 or 17 years old.
Cusack served 25 years in the Ocean City Police Department before retiring in May 2011.
He was in his second season as director of the city’s beach-tag program when he was arrested.
