A police sergeant in New Jersey has been accused of failing to properly respond to a reported shooting that led to the deaths of a veterinarian and her volunteer firefighter boyfriend, both allegedly killed by a New Jersey State Police trooper, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Lauren Semanchik, 33, of Pittstown, and Tyler Webb, 29, of Forked River, were found dead the afternoon of Aug. 2 at her home on Upper Kingtown Road in Franklin Township, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The night before, a dispatcher notified Franklin Township Police Sgt. Kevin Bollaro about a report of gunshots and screaming on Upper Kingtown Road.
Instead of responding directly to the scene, Bollaro went first to an ATM to conduct a transaction, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
While at the ATM, Bollaro was told by a dispatcher about a second report of gunshots and screaming, the prosecutor’s office alleged. Bollaro then proceeded to the location of the first call, allegedly without activating his lights and siren.
Around five minutes after the second call, a third call reporting gunshots and screaming was made to police and relayed to Bollaro, who ultimately met with the first caller but not the second and third callers, the prosecutor’s office said.
Approximately 17 minutes passed from the time of the first dispatch to Bollaro to when he arrived to meet with the first caller, the prosecutor’s office said. Bollaro also allegedly failed to turn on his bodycam while he met that caller.
After leaving the area, Bollaro immediately drove to Duke’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Pittstown, where he remained for around 50 minutes, the prosecutor’s office said.
Bollaro later went to Pittstown Inn, a restaurant, and remained there for nearly an hour engaging socially with patrons, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
Bollaro then spent five hours — from around 11:27 p.m. until 4:33 a.m. — at a local cemetery, during which no law enforcement activity was recorded by him, the prosecutor’s office alleged.
Bollaro then allegedly submitted a false report about what he did that night.
The next day, as detectives were investigating the deaths of Semanchik and Webb, authorities learned that Ricardo Jorge Santos, a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police and Semanchik’s ex-boyfriend, was found dead inside a white 2008 Mercedes SUV in Johnson Park in Piscataway, Middlesex County, the prosecutor’s office said.
Santos sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office preliminarily determined to be a suicide, the prosecutor’s office said. A semiautomatic handgun was found inside the Mercedes.
The New York Times and other news outlets reported that Santos had previously served as a supervisor on the New Jersey governor’s protection detail.
Charles J. Sciarra, an attorney representing the Franklin Township police sergeant, said in a statement Friday morning that “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped that tragedy in any way.”
Sciarra said that “the evidence will show that there were delays in these 911 calls being made and dispatched,” and that “he canvassed the area thoroughly. Sgt. Kevin Bollaro has faithfully served that community for nearly 25 years [and] is not guilty of anything related to this horrendous killing. This prosecution is unfortunate.”
David Mazie, an attorney representing the families of Semanchik and Webb, said in an emailed statement Thursday evening that the families “are shocked at Sgt. Bollaro’s egregious conduct as charged by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor. We believe this to be the tip of the iceberg of the many failures by the local and state police which will be uncovered and which led to the murders of Lauren and Tyler.”
Bollaro was charged with second-degree official misconduct “for knowingly refraining from performing his police duties with purpose to obtain a personal benefit,” and disorderly persons tampering with public records or information for knowingly making false entries in his police report, the prosecutor’s office said.
Bollaro was charged on a complaint-summons and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Nov. 5.
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The prosecutor’s office previously said that Semanchik had been in a relationship with Santos that ended around September 2024, but “Semanchik alleged that Santos engaged in continued harassing and controlling behavior.”
At some point, Semanchik installed a video surveillance recording system in her vehicle, which detectives accessed and reviewed.
Video evidence showed Semanchik’s vehicle leaving the Long Valley Animal Hospital, where she worked, around 5:25 p.m. on Aug. 1 and a white 2008 Mercedes SUV was seen leaving a parking space and closely following Semanchik to her home on Upper Kingtown Road until she turned into her driveway shortly before 6 p.m., the prosecutor’s office said.
“At approximately 6:11 p.m., while Semanchik’s vehicle is parked, an individual is seen surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway leading up to the residence. And at approximately 6:45 p.m., Webb’s vehicle arrives at the residence and parks next to Semanchik’s vehicle,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Detectives said the white 2008 Mercedes SUV that followed Semanchik was the same vehicle in which Santos was found dead in Piscataway.
At a news conference in August, Mazie said Semanchik went to the Franklin Township Police Department to report her ex-boyfriend’s behavior but was told no one was available to talk to her. She was given a phone number to call, which she did, Mazie said. No one called back.
Mazie said that Semanchik’s vehicle was damaged, apparently with a key, while she was at work in May 2025. Semanchik reported the incident to the Washington Township Police Department in Morris County and to a female trooper who worked with Santos, Mazie said.
Mazie said a report from the Washington Township police indicated that Santos was contacted and denied damaging her vehicle. He was advised to avoid contact with Semanchik, Mazie said.
Mazie said he plans to sue both the New Jersey State Police and the Franklin Township Police Department for failing to act against Santos.
