A Convicted Felon From Ocean County Was Apprehended Shortly After Escaping From a New Jersey Prison
Arson Was the Cause of the Fire That Shut Down the Garden State Parkway
January 20, 2022
A Toms River Man Has Been Charged With Arson at the Business Where He Was Fired
January 21, 2022A Convicted Felon From Ocean County Was Apprehended Shortly After Escaping From a New Jersey Prison
Photo Credit: (NJ Department of Corrections)
Officials said Peter Rusch, Who Was Convicted of a Stabbing Under the Seaside Heights Boardwalk in 2011 Was Apprehended Not Long After He Escaped
Officials say a Seaside Heights man was apprehended shortly after escaping from a state jail in Cumberland County on Thursday morning.
According to the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Peter Rusch of Seaside Heights escaped from Bayside State Prison in Maurice River Township on Thursday morning. Rusch was apprehended immediately after the Department of Corrections received word that he had escaped, according to Chris Carden, a spokesman for the agency. Rusch was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2009 for an armed robbery that occurred over the course of two days beneath the boardwalk in Seaside Heights.Rusch was being held at a low-security institution on the same grounds as Bayshore Prison. It's a halfway house for inmates who are about to be released on parole or who have completed their terms. According to Department of Corrections statistics, Rusch had two years left until he was eligible for parole.
In 2011, he was found guilty of first-degree armed robbery, third-degree unlawful possession of a knife, and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a knife, and his sentence was upheld by an appeals court in 2014.Rusch led the victim beneath the boardwalk, beat him, and held a knife to his throat while stealing $60 to $100 in that instance. According to investigators, the victim was finally able to flee and return home. The victim ran into Rusch again the next day, when he was beaten a second time, according to authorities. The two gentlemen had never met before.
According to the DOC inmate record, he was convicted in Ocean County in 2011 and given a maximum release date of Jan. 4, 2024.
While his detention will almost certainly be extended as a result of his attempt to flee, officials have yet to specify the charges he will face as a result of the incident. Inmates are eligible for the minimum security unit for a variety of reasons, including a lack of recent prison violence. Maurice River Township is home to Bayside State Prison.
