3 charged in graffiti case; more arrests are expected

JEFF GRANIT staff Police have arrested suspects in connection with graffiti found on walls and sidewalks at Old Bridge High School last week.

OLD BRIDGE - Police have arrested three suspects in connection with the spray-painted graffiti found on the outside of Old Bridge High School last week.

The three suspects, who include a township councilman's son, were arrested separately at their respective homes on June 29, four days after they allegedly sprayed wording in black paint on their school. The acts of graffiti were found by police the morning of the high school's graduation June 26, and two of the three suspects were part of that graduating class.

Arrested were class of 2006 graduates Brian Maher, 18, who is the son of Councilman Dennis Maher, and Maissam Matt Agha-Ghassem, 18. The third defendant is a 17-year-old township resident who does not attend Old Bridge High School. Police declined to state where he attends school or divulge his name because he is a juvenile. The three suspects, each charged with criminal mischief, were released on their own recognizance.

More arrests are expected, police said, and the investigation is ongoing.

The graffiti, which includes references to the graduating class and other phrases, was found on the outside walls of the school, as well as on the sidewalks, around 3 a.m. June 26. The vandalism was visible in the background later that morning as seniors lined up to board buses to transport them to the commencement ceremony in Trenton.

This was the second arrest for Brian Maher, who in February was one of three Old Bridge High School students charged in a phony money scheme.

Maher allegedly attempted to exchange fake bills for real ones at a car dealership where he worked. He was charged with theft by deception and uttering of a forged instrument. Two juveniles from the high school were arrested later, and police said one of them had been making the bills at his home computer.

Police said at the time that business owners in and around Old Bridge had been reporting that counterfeit $20 bills were being used for about a week prior to the arrests.