Man charged with homicide in Barnegat Bay, NJ boat crash

TOMS RIVER — A Morris County man was charged with vehicular homicide in a June boating crash in Barnegat Bay that left one man dead and four injured.

State Police said Juan A. Fernandez II, 18, struck an intercoastal waterway marker head-on on June 13 around 1:13 a.m. with a 2014 Bennington Pontoon boat. He continued to Antiqua Avenue where he met Toms River police and first responders. Fernandez told police there had been a total of six people on board including himself. Two of the injured were thrown from the boat by the impact.

Four people on the boat were treated for non-life threatening injuries while Corey T. Molinari, 19, of Whippany was taken via medical helicopter to Jersey Shore Medical Center where he died.

The investigation into the incident determined there were actually nine people on board, three of whom got off the pontoon before the crash into the marker.

Fernandez was arrested in Boonton on Wednesday and charged with second degree vehicular homicide, third degree strict liability vehicular homicide and third degree hindering. He is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Molinari gradtuated Whippany Park High School in 2020 and had just finished his freshman year at Seton Hall University, majoring in economics. He was a member of the Spartan Powerboat Club on the Jersey Shore.

Juan Fernandez (Ocean County Jail)

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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