NJ cop accused of smashing front door, threatening 2 victims in home

🔵NJ cop accused of violent home break-in
🔵 She had sued over sexual harassment at work
🔵 Suit recently dismissed

A Toms River police officer has been accused of a violent home break-in while off-duty in a neighboring town.

Rebecca Sayegh, 32, was charged with home invasion burglary, terroristic threats, resisting arrest and two counts each of assault and criminal mischief.

Sayegh had been suing several superior colleagues for sexual harassment until the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge two weeks ago.

On Friday night around 11:20 p.m., Berkeley Township Police responded to a residential disturbance reported at a home on Evernham Avenue.

Sayegh had allegedly smashed the front glass door and entered the residence, assaulting and threatening two victims inside, police said.

She was also accused of damaging the hood of a vehicle parked in the driveway.

Sayegh was initially arrested at the scene, after she resisted efforts to be taken into custody, Ocean County Bradley Billhimer said.

After prosecutors upgraded the seriousness of the charges, she was arrested again on Monday and was being held at Ocean County Jailpending a detention hearing.

Billhimer did not publicly comment on any further details, including a potential motive.

Read More: 5 cops sue over over North Bergen police chief's wild reign

Officer sued over workplace sexual harassment

Sayegh began working for Toms River police as a patrol officer in 2016, Asbury Park Press reported.

In October 2024, Sayegh filed a discrimination lawsuit that accused a now retired police captain of sexual harassment.

The lawsuit said that the harassment included a traumatic incident after a charitable golf outing in June 2022.

Sayegh said the male captain followed her into a women’s bathroom, unzipped his pants, showed her his genitals and told her to “suck it,” according to the suit.

She said that after she reported the incidents to her superiors, instead of any actions taken again her now retired co-worker, she was subject to “a campaign of further harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, in effect derailing her once promising career.”

On April 11, an order for the lawsuit’s dismissal was granted by Superior Court Judge Robert Brenner on grounds that all the claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations under state discrimination law.

Before the most recent allegations, Sayegh was commended by Toms River township in 2022 for saving a homeowner and her pets as a house fire broke out in 2021.

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