A disgraced former New Jersey mayor who pleaded guilty earlier this year to driving drunk with her young child in the vehicle now faces a fresh slate of criminal charges alongside her husband for allegedly submitting fake signatures on a nominating petition to secure a spot in a Democratic primary.
Gina LaPlaca, the one-time mayor of Lumberton Township who still sits on the township committee, was charged Tuesday with making a false statement under oath, knowingly filing a false petition, tampering with public records, and falsifying or tampering with records, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Her husband, Jason Carty, faces counts of knowingly filing a false petition, tampering with public records, and falsifying or tampering with records.
Prosecutors say Carty turned in the petition to the Lumberton Township Municipal Clerk for the June Democratic primary.
Attached was an affidavit signed by LaPlaca declaring she “personally circulated the petition [and] that such petition was signed by each of the signers thereof in his/her own handwriting.”
An investigation determined that both LaPlaca, 47, and Carty, 49, gathered the signatures.
“An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that multiple individuals whose names and purported signatures appeared on LaPlaca’s nominating petition indicated they had neither signed the petition nor authorized anyone to do so on their behalf in support of the candidate’s nomination,” the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Without those disputed signatures, officials determined, the petition would have fallen short of the required total, blocking LaPlaca from appearing on the ballot for the June 2026 Democratic primary for Lumberton Township Committee.
The couple is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 21 in Mount Holly.
LaPlaca held the mayor’s office from 2021 to 2025.
She kept her committee seat after stepping down as mayor, with her term set to end this December.
She tried to reclaim a committee post in the June primary but placed third in a race for two seats, trailing current Mayor Terrance Benson and running mate Kendra Hatfield.
These latest accusations arrive on the heels of LaPlaca’s earlier guilty plea in a disturbing DUI case.
Prosecutors charged that in March 2025 she was heavily intoxicated when she collected her child from daycare.
Witness video captured her vehicle weaving across lanes and nearly slamming into a utility pole with the youngster inside.
Her blood-alcohol level registered 0.30 percent—more than three times New Jersey’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
She was sentenced to three years of supervision through a pretrial intervention program that includes required Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
The sequence paints a troubling picture of a local Democratic officeholder whose personal recklessness with a child in the car was followed by allegations of electoral misconduct aimed at staying in power.
Election integrity depends on candidates collecting genuine voter support through legitimate signatures, not shortcuts that prosecutors now say crossed into criminal territory.
When those signatures turn out to be unauthorized, public trust erodes further—especially in a state already grappling with questions about how ballots are secured and verified.
LaPlaca’s dual legal troubles underscore a pattern that conservatives have long warned about: progressive politicians who demand accountability from others while seemingly treating the rules as optional for themselves.
Driving under the influence with a child present is serious enough; compounding it with alleged petition fraud only deepens the damage.
Voters in Lumberton already delivered their verdict at the ballot box by rejecting her bid.
Now the criminal justice system will decide whether the signatures that got her name on that ballot were real or manufactured.
Her DUI conviction already forced her into court-ordered sobriety programs.
The Sept. 21 court appearance will mark the next chapter.
