Peggy Wright

@PeggyWrightDR

MORRISTOWN - A 34-year-old admitted heroin addict from Stanhope, accused of burglarizing nine homes in Morris, Sussex, Passaic and Bergen counties over a three-week period, will remain in the Morris County Jail, pretrial, because he poses a danger to himself or the community, a judge ruled Thursday.

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office was the first agency to formally file for the pretrial detention of burglary suspect Jason Major, 34, under the state's new criminal justice reform mandates.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood argued to Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley for Major's pretrial detention only on a charge of burglarizing a home in Rockaway Township on Jan. 30 and stealing about $10,000 worth of jewelry and causing $900 worth of damage to a garage door. Major was charged with the township break-in around Feb. 15.

Passaic County has filed its own motion, expected to be heard Monday, to keep Major in custody until its burglaries are resolved. In Sussex County, Major is accused of burglaries in Byram and Hopatcong. After his arrest in Sussex County, Major initially was detained in the county jail in February but released under certain conditions when his public safety assessment score - a measure of how likely a person is to commit new crimes or flee - showed him to be a relatively low risk.

The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office could have filed a motion with Superior Court to keep Major in custody despite his PSA score but did not. Now the office has filed a motion to revoke his release, which will be heard next week.

Though Major - who allegedly has admitted using 10 to 20 bags of heroin a day - is charged with nine daytime residential break-ins between Jan. 25 and Feb. 12, Calderwood focused on the Rockaway Township charge as the basis for why Major should be detained. Since the judge agreed, the Prosecutor's Office now has 90 days in which to indict Major on the burglary charge and 180 days from the point of indictment to try him.

After the two-hour detention hearing, Critchley suggested that officials in the counties talk to each other so that detention hearings don't have to occur in Passaic, Bergen and Sussex counties on the same defendant. Unless a decision is made to consolidate the cases in one county, each county would be responsible for prosecuting its own burglary cases.

Defense attorney Wayne Morse argued for Major's release under certain conditions, saying he hasn't been violent and would live with his fiancee in Stanhope. Morse said he also will investigate whether Major can be accepted into the county's or Sussex County's Drug Court program.

"I don't think we're dealing with a dangerous person," Morse said. "He's been in the jail two weeks now and he has been detoxified."

Calderwood argued for Major to continue to be detained because, she said, he is likely to commit more burglaries if released. Under criminal justice reforms, monetary bail is no longer set and defendants to be deemed a low risk to the community can be released pretrial under special conditions, including with electronic bracelets or on orders to report to a pretrial services worker. To detain defendants who are considered a high risk to the public or themselves, prosecutors have to file formal motions with a Superior Court judge, who conducts a hearing, as Critchley did on Major on Thursday.

Calderwood noted that there are surveillance videos that recorded Major's distinctive truck on the street where one burglary occurred, and two pawn shops provided receipts to authorities that reportedly show Major brought in gold in exchange for cash.

The judge told Major that he could not release him at this time because his alleged crimes appear "chemically driven," and despite his best intentions to recover, he would likely resume trying to find money to support his addiction.

"To release someone in the throes of addiction would seem to me grossly off the mark," Critchley said.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.