Mount Laurel, N.J., man captured on video in racist rant has been indicted on harassment and other charges

A South Jersey man who went on a racist rant against his Black neighbor that was captured in a video that went viral has been indicted on bias intimidation and other charges, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced Tuesday.

The 15-count indictment charges 46-year-old Edward Cagney Mathews with stalking and harassing residents in his Mount Laurel neighborhood, and damaging their vehicles, the prosecutor said. Mathews also faces narcotics and weapons charges.

The case drew national attention when a July 2 video of Mathews, a union laborer, showed him taunting a Black neighbor and using racial slurs. He gave out the address for his residence on Gramercy Way and told people “to come see me.”

Hundreds showed up three days later for a protest that lasted for hours, demanding his arrest. Mathews was taken into custody later that day and has remained in jail. Four protesters were later charged in connection with attacks on police and damage to property.

Mathews previously told The Inquirer that he was sorry for the incident and that his behavior stemmed from a long-running dispute with the homeowners’ association. He also said he was drunk at the time of the confrontation.

In a statement, his attorney, Craig Mitnick, said the indictment was “overreaching and politically driven.“ Mathews “has been unfairly detained, excessively charged, and now unjustly indicted,” he wrote.

“Far too often we have witnessed injustices levied upon persons of color, and we have fought to annihilate these inequities,” Mitnick said. “Today, we find ourselves looking at the same injustice and the same inequity, but this time it touches not a Black man or an Asian man, but a white one.”

The indictment was welcome news for neighbors in the Essex Place condo community, 17 miles east of Philadelphia, said Gary Zangerle, the association’s attorney.

”We’re happy the criminal process is moving forward,” Zangerle said. Federal authorities are also investigating Mathews and have subpoenaed the association records, he said.

Prosecutors say Mathews had a pattern of terrorizing Black neighbors, as well as condo association board members, including slinging rocks and ball bearings through their home and car windows, smearing feces on one car, and writing threatening notes and emails, authorities said.

Former Mount Laurel Mayor Stephen Steglik and State Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D., Burlington) said Mathews had threatened them, too.

Zangerle said the condo where Mathews lived was sold last fall. He and his then-wife purchased it three years ago for $177,000 in the racially diverse development in the township’s Larchmont section.

Police originally arrested Mathews last July, three days after he was videoed verbally assaulting the neighbor. Authorities brought more charges against him in October related to ongoing harassment in the neighborhood. The legal process of charging him was completed Jan. 28 with the return of the indictment.

Some neighbors alleged that police had shown favoritism toward Mathews and were slow to respond to their complaints.

» READ MORE: More charges for Mount Laurel man seen in viral racist rant that led to July protest at his home

Coffina has said that an “independent review” of how Mount Laurel police handled prior complaints didn’t find any evidence that any officers or the Mount Laurel Police Department failed to investigate them.

Authorities said when police conducted a search warrant on Mathews’ home, they found a slingshot and 30 rounds of ball-bearing ammunition that matched the size, color, weight, and inscription of ball bearings shot through a former condo association board secretary’s car, causing $2,850 in damage.

A note left on another Black board member’s car read, “One down, only a few to go.” An FBI report confirmed it was written in Mathews’ handwriting. Zangerle said the board president, who is Black, and another Black board member who were frequent targets have since moved.

Last July, a judge ordered Mathews held in jail to await trial, ruling that he posed a “high risk of danger to the community if released.” An arraignment will be scheduled in Superior Court.