Police Report: Toms River School Board Member Accuses Fellow Board Member of Sending Threatening Text, Driving Past House

TOMS RIVER – A dispute between two elected officials who are members of the Toms River Board of Education has culminated in the filing of a police report in which Beachwood school board representative Daniel Leonard has been named a “person of interest,” public records revealed.

Dan Leonard

Robert Onofrietti

There’s drama on the Toms River school board. Daniel Leonard, the recently elected representative of Beachwood on the Toms River Board of Education, has been named in a police report after Robert Onofrietti called Toms River police on the evening of July 15th after Leonard allegedly parked his car near Onofrietti’s house and sent a text message that Onofrietti reported to police as a threat.

Leonard, for his part, has made his political disagreements with Onofrietti no secret, and Onofrietti is often a target of the Beachwood school board representative on his “Team Leonard” Facebook page.

A post by Leonard criticizing Onofrietti

According to a report authored by the Toms River Police Department’s Officer William Pestalozzi, Onofrietti said that at around 5:30 PM that day he saw a vehicle park in front of his home. Later that day, the school board member’s wife went for a walk with the family dog.

Leonard, seen driving a vehicle, photo from Facebook

While Mrs. Onofrietti was out walking the dog, and the same vehicle that was sitting in front of their house drove away “at a high rate of speed,” according to the police report. While the vehicle drove away, Mr. Onofrietti saw the driver and passenger of the vehicle, and received a text message from fellow school board member Daniel Leonard once the vehicle, which was identified as a 2016 Toyota Tundra, drove away.