Former Lumberton Township mayor Gina LaPlaca got behind the wheel drunk with her two-year-old son in the car, pleaded guilty to DUI and child endangerment, and still walked out of court without spending a single night in jail.
Yeah, you read that right.
And it was on St. Patrick’s Day last year, March 17, 2025. A good Samaritan was driving on Route 38 in Burlington County when he saw a BMW car swerving all over the road, hitting the grass, almost hitting oncoming cars, and almost taking out a utility pole. He called 911. The police checked the plates and immediately went straight to LaPlaca’s residence.
When they pulled up around 5:40 p.m., there she was in the driveway 45 years old, former mayor, Democrat unbuckling her toddler from the car seat. The little boy had ridden the entire way home from daycare completely unsecured. Bodycam footage that’s been blowing up online shows her staggering, losing her balance, and slurring just enough to make it obvious. She admitted she’d had “a little bit of vodka” before picking him up. Failed every sobriety test they gave her. Open alcohol containers and a tiny liquor bottle were sitting right there in the BMW.
A tweet from X.
Her BAC? 0.30%, almost four times the legal limit. They arrested her on the spot for DUI and endangering the welfare of a child.
But instead of jail time, she got the golden ticket: New Jersey’s Pretrial Intervention Program. It’s basically a three-year ‘get out of jail free card’ for first-time offenders. She has to attend AA meetings and prove she’s actually doing so, install an interlock device in her car, stay in good standing with the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, and complete an outpatient drug program. And then, of course, she’ll have all charges dismissed. Fail in any of those tasks and she’ll face a recall of all charges.
In court she stood there looking properly remorseful and read a statement:
“I have never felt more humbled than I do standing before my community today. The weight of my actions is something I carry deeply. What I did was wrong. It was dangerous. It was inexcusable. I drove while intoxicated with my child in the car a choice that could have caused irreversible harm. That reality is something I will live with, and learn from, for the rest of my life.”
She got booted as mayor in January 2026, but she’s still sitting on the Lumberton Township Committee with her term running through the end of the year. Residents were screaming for her to resign completely. Even Governor Phil Murphy joined the chorus. She ignored all of it and kept her seat.
The bodycam video keeps circulating, and people are furious. And honestly, who can blame them? This is the kind of case that makes regular folks lose their minds: an elected official puts a toddler at risk, blows a 0.30, and gets the softest possible slap on the wrist because it’s her first offense and the system would rather “rehabilitate” than punish.
New Jersey’s Pretrial Intervention program is standard for first-timers it’s designed to get people into treatment instead of prison. Supporters say it works and keeps recidivism down. Critics look at a powerful local politician dodging real consequences and call it exactly what it looks like: special treatment for the connected.
