CLINTON TOWNSHIP – A Readington man has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in a fatal ATV crash that claimed the life of a 34-year-old Califon man in July.

Christopher Rafano, 40, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 25 by Superior Court Judge Angela Borkowski in Flemington. He faces up to five years in prison.

Rafano pleaded guilty on Wednesday, eight days after he was arrested on the vehicular homicide charge. Unlike most criminal cases, he pleaded guilty directly to the charge without an indictment.

William Hildebrant died after injuries in the crash on Kiceniuk Road at about 9:21 p.m. on July 28. Hildebrant was one of three passengers on an ATV driven by Rafano. The passengers and Rafano were all not wearing helmets, according to police reports.

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Rafano, who police say was under the influence of alcohol, was driving the ATV west on the road when he hit a dip in the road by a sewer grate and Hildebrant was thrown off the ATV, police reports said.

Hildebrant, who was sitting on the right rear of the ATV, landed on the roadway. He was moved to the side of the road before police arrived, according to police.

Hildebrant was flown by NorthStar helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he died the following day.

An autopsy determined the cause of death to be blunt trauma to the head.

Rafano drove the ATV from the scene before police arrived, charging documents said.

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The two other passengers – Melissa Murphy, of Readington, and Alison Ward of Clinton Township – were not injured in the accident, police say.

In addition to vehicular homicide, Rafano was charged with careless driving, reckless driving, driving an uninsured vehicle, failing to report an accident, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving an ATV on the street, allowing passengers to ride on the ATV and driving an unsafe vehicle.

Police also say that the ATV, a 2019 Polaris, was not approved for use on the road.

Rafano’s blood and urine were collected for an alcohol and drug analysis, according to the documents, and the ATV was towed and impounded.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office and township police initially did not disclose that the accident involved a fatality and did not release Hildebrant's identity.

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The lack of information prompted TapInto to sue the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office and Clinton Township.

The lawsuit, filed by CJ Griffin of the law firm Pashman Stein, who specializes in OPRA litigation, resulted in the release of documents. An official with the county prosecutor's office then reportedly told TapInto that the records “were mistakenly denied” and that it was “not intentional.”

MyCentralJersey obtained the police reports about the accident on Wednesday through an Open Public Records Act request filed on Sept. 3.

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage is an award-winning watchdog reporter whose work spans many topics and has spurred the creation of a state law. Contact him: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com; @nmuscavage.