New Jersey Atilis gym owners were arrested Monday morning for repeatedly defying Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order stay-at-home order.
Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti were arrested Monday morning after they continued to run their business despite a superior court judge’s finding that the gym was in contempt on Friday, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer.
According to the prosecutor´s office, the contempt order called for Smith, 33 and Trumbetti, 51 , to cease operations and vacate the gym immediately. However, the gym continued to operate during the weekend.
The police asked them to leave the gym but they refused. At that point, they were arrested. Trumbetti and Smith were taken to the Bellmawr Police Department, where they were charged and released.
You can read: NJ heatlh authorities closed gym that defied shutdown orders
They have each been charged with one count of fourth-degree contempt, one count of obstruction and one count of violation of a disaster control act. The second and third charges are both disorderly persons summons.
Smith and Trumbetti posted a video from the scene on their Facebook page. They said the entrance to the gym has been boarded up. Patch made an account of the process development.
It was the second time the contempt order had been filed, after a judge found the gym wasn’t in contempt earlier in the week. At that time Judge Robert Lougy said State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli would be invited to file another contempt request if it became necessary.
The gym initially reopened in May, but was quickly shut back down by court order the same week. At one point, authorities put a padlock on the door, but that was later removed.
Since then, the state has claimed Atilis Gym was operating beyond capacity limits and without social distancing, and without following the health and safety protocols issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The gym was closed as part of a statewide executive order closing non-essential businesses in March. In reopened three times in one week in May in defiance of the order. The gym was closed by order of the state after the third reopening. It then reopened a fourth time, but was shut down again by court order.
Smith and Trumbetti then filed a federal lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the state’s “Draconian” shelter-in-place executive orders.
As they filed their lawsuit, Smith and Trumbetti filed a request to reopen via temporary restraining order, which was denied by the same judge that was to hear the new request. Despite the judge denying their request, the gym reopened anyway.
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