A New Jersey gym owner who faces the possibility of a $ 15,000-a-day fine for refusing his gym, despite state condemnation during the coronavirus pandemic, said Friday that nothing will stop him from opening its doors.
Atilis Gym in Bellmawr opened in May, and defends the executive order of Gov. Phil Murphy to remain closed during the pandemic, and caused a legal battle.
The owners, Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, received and ignored several citations and were arrested last month and charged with contempt, obstruction and violation of the Disaster Control Act.
They opened the gym less than a week later.
On Tuesday, the Bellmawr Borough Council voted 5-to-1 to enter Atilis’ business license. And on Friday, Smith and Trumbetti had to attend a court hearing by phone in which a judge would allow or not allow the state to find the gym for more than $ 15,000 for each day they stay open.
“We are not going to turn back – this is not about opening a gym,” Trumbetti told NBC News hours before the hearing. “This is about our constitutional rights, and he has violated them,” Trumbetti said, referring to Murphy.
Trumbetti said the proposed fines were imposed because a GoFundMe imposed by supporters had raised more than $ 250,000, and the state has decided that the owners can pay such hefty fees. Trumbetti said the funds are needed for legal fees.
When he and Smith were arrested, Trumbetti said they were detained for three hours, but they were again threatened with arrest on charges of contempt of court. Murphy “wants to put me in jail for trying to be healthy and helping people be healthy,” Trumbetti said. “The only way he can win is to kill me. This is my job.”
Trumbetti said the high school has implemented a number of precautionary measures to protect members while they work.
Guests are first greeted with an anti-microbial sanitizer, COVID-19 survey and temperature control. Those with a temperature of more than 100.4 request an alarm, and are sent home. Everyone is provided with their own bottle of sanitizer to clean machines, which Trumbetti said is used so often that it “becomes unnecessary.”
The gym has been disinfected morning and night using various methods, and the air-conditioning unit is new, Trumbetti said. The gym also has 25-foot ceilings and a large fan, he added. Showers and water fountains are not available at the moment, and people are asked at social distance, but the gym does not require them to wear masks when working out.
“The mayor does not want to listen to us,” Trumbetti said. “He’s not part of our protocol. He’s just on a power trip.”
In his most recent guidance regarding gyms, Murphy said that fitness centers can offer individual instructions for indoors, such as a one-on-one session with a personal trainer.
New Jersey was one of the worst-hit states at the start of the pandemic before it proved successful in flattening the coronavirus curve. But in late July and early August, the state saw the number of new cases spike by 175 percent.
Murphy responded by limiting the number of people that can gather at indoor venues or parties from 100 to 25.
The governor at the time said the state “stood in a very dangerous place” and he placed the blame on the “knuckle cages” who do not follow the rules.
Trumbetti does not deny the danger of the virus. He said his mother died in May. But he believes he has created a safe environment at his gym, where he said no one to his knowledge has tested positive after more than 20,000 check-ins since May.
“They made the mistake of thinking we were two stupid gym owners. We are much more than that,” Trumbetti said. “We know how to fight with word and logic, not just fists and muscles.”
Murphy’s office sent requests for comment to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. The Attorney General’s Office responded by sending a copy of the state’s motion to compel Atilis Gym to comply with its final closing order on July 24.
“Defendant Atilis Gym’s abusive behavior is detrimental to an organized justice system, endangers the public health and safety of New Jersians, and should not be tolerated,” the motion said. “Severe monetary sanctions are needed to enforce compliance.”
The state is demanding fines against the gym of more than $ 15,000 because the efforts to raise funds for so much money had raised so much money, the state said.
The money raised for the gym through GoFundMe was for “the express purpose of paying fines, penalties, and court fees in connection with non-compliance with closing orders,” the motion said. “Because the daily amount of monetary sanction has to be unpacked to keep Atilis Gym open, the daily amount of monetary sanction can not be less than $ 15,229.80 per day – calculated to remove the current stock within 10 days. “
