An owner and two party organizers were indicted Sunday after police in New Jersey spent nearly five hours closing a meeting that drew more than 700 people to an Airbnb rental, authorities said.
Around 8:30 p.m., police in Jackson responded to a house on Mill Pond Road in a report of a suspicious incident, Capt. Steven Laskiewicz said in a statement.
Neighborhood residents told police that a house across the street had been rented to a group that was having a large party that was causing riots and appeared to be violating the state order limiting outdoor gatherings to 500 people and indoor meetings. 100 people, police said.
After observing “a large crowd at the residence,” officers contacted the home’s owner, Yaakov Weiss, 40, of Jackson, who told police that he had rented the residence through Airbnb. and that he was organizing a large party, according to the statement. The owner said that about 200 people had arrived at the house and the party was expanding, he left, according to police.
Police estimate that the meeting grew to more than 700 people with more than 100 vehicles parked in the area.
More calls to 911 were received overnight from homeowners who reported riots and raids, police said.
“As the crowd grew in size, this required the effort of all Jackson police officers on duty who responded when roads to the neighborhood were closed because more partygoers were still arriving,” the statement said.
Officers from a handful of agencies, including the New Jersey State Police, helped clean up the area, which took until about 1 a.m., police said.
Authorities also received a 911 call from a nearby resident reporting that people who had left the party had broken into his home and were damaging the property, police said.
“A family member of the caller who had been to the original party was found to have invited a large group from the party to the residence,” Jackson police said. “Additional officers responded and the unwanted group was dispersed from this second residence.”
Weiss and two others who police said were identified as the party’s organizers, Patience Guanue, 23, and Alicia Hinneh, 22, both from Newark, were cited for violating the governor’s executive order.
