Former GOP operative fights TRO, attorney fires back
EWING >> Caitlin Koether, the former GOP operative who has accused state assembly hopeful Michael Silvestri of sexual assault, has cleared one legal hurdle.
But she faces other obstacles, including fighting to get a temporary restraining order that Silvestri filed against her tossed out of court.
In one reprieve, Mercer County prosecutors said they would not pursue criminal charges against Koether, 30, of Ewing, over her involvement in a drunken car crash in February 2018.
Koether was issued tickets for allowing Brandon McClintock, now deceased, to drive her white Toyota Camry on Feb. 12, while he was under the influence and for allowing him to drive while his license was suspended, according to court records and Ewing municipal court officials.
McClintock crashed into victim Kevin T. Simons, who was knocked unconscious and seriously injured, his longtime girlfriend has told The Trentonian.
Ewing municipal prosecutor Bertha Scott sent the case to Mercer County prosecutor Angelo Onofri in July for him to review for possible prosecution at the state court level.
But Onofri’s office said it decided not to move forward with the case and remanded it back to the township municipal court for further action.
“The motor vehicle tickets issued to Ms. Koether were sent to our office for review. While this doesn’t occur in every case, it is common with motor vehicle accidents where serious bodily injury has occurred. It is at the discretion of the municipal court prosecutor,” MCPO spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said in an emailed statement. “After review, our Serious Collision Response Team determined that there are no indictable offenses associated with the accident for us to prosecute and the tickets issued to Ms. Koether will be remanded to municipal court.”
Lisa Ochanas said she was displeased over prosecutors’ decision not to hold Koether responsible for knowingly allowing an intoxicated McClintock to get behind the wheel of her car in the earlymorning hours.
Her boyfriend suffered permanent injuries and has been out of work for a year, she said.
She was furious no one from Onofri’s office notified her of the decision.
“It’s been a god—ned year,” she said. “Can somebody say something?”
Daryl Kipnis, Koether’s attorney and a former congressional candidate, learned about prosecutors’ decision from The Trentonian when reached Wednesday.
He declined to comment on the case when asked how he planned to attack the admissions Koether made to the cops at the crash scene.
“That’s between me and my client,” Kipnis said. “I’m not going to reveal that. That’s privileged.”
Koether was a paid worker on Kipnis’ congressional campaign, though he said he agreed to take on her case after the election.
Kipnis lost to congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Koether was previously represented by attorneys Robert Ramsey and Richard Uslan.
According to the police crash investigation report obtained by The Trentonian, Koether admitted to cops she knew her friend McClintock was “drunk” when she let him get behind the wheel.
McClintock blew through a red light at the intersection of Olden and Princeton avenues in the township, and collided with an Acura driven by Simons, who had just started to accelerate when the light turned green.
Simons borrowed his girlfriend’s Acura, which the police report noted was equipped with a dash camera that helped cops reconstruct the crash.
He was on his way to work at a local newspaper distribution company in the township, Ochanas said.
“Koether said that she was drunk so she allowed driver one to drive,” Ewing Police officer Ricardo Sookhu wrote in the report. “But then admitted that driver one was also drunk.”
McClintock, who died the next day of an apparent drug overdose, ran away from the crash, toward a Hess gas station, Koether told the cops, according to the report.
He was given motor vehicle summonses but municipal prosecutors dismissed those after McClintock’s death.
Dash Cam Video
The Trentonian obtained and reviewed the dramatic dash cam footage from inside of Ochanas’ Acura.
Simons is heard singing along to music moments before he gets sideswiped as he accelerated when the light turned green.
The video clearly depicted the impact of the crash and the aftermath, showing police and paramedics arriving at the scene.
Cops noted in their report that the impact was so forceful it caused Simons’ vehicle to “spin clockwise.”
Simons’ radio continued to play in the background, so it was hard to hear any of the chatter outside the vehicle.
But Ochanas told The Trentonian in an interview that Koether was the one who called her after the crash.
She wasn’t sure how she got her phone number but surmised Koether may have gotten it out of her boyfriend’s phone.
Ochanas said she threw on clothes and drove from her home in Trenton to the site of the car crash.
She said she encountered Koether, who reeked of alcohol and apologized profusely for allowing McClintock to drive.
Koether, in an email sent to The Trentonian after it published a story that included Ochanas’ account, disputed having any interaction with Ochanas.
“In regards to my case, which I won’t discuss, but I will say you should do your research better because the other driver also was ticketed for driving while suspended and got ticketed,” Koether said.
Ochanas told a municipal court judge at one of Koether’s court appearances last year that Simons resolved the ticket, according to a recording of the court proceeding obtained by this newspaper.
She explained Simons’ license had been suspended for not paying a fine, but was reinstated after he provided proof of the payment to the state motor vehicle department.
“The girlfriend also NEVER met me in person and wasn’t at the scene of the accident so how could she know how I ‘smell?’” Koether said in the email. “You’re reporting on a story without the facts. There’s a phone record from my phone of her being called from the scene of the accident of me, notifying her when the accident occurred. I wasn’t a driver. She wasn’t there on the scene, nor was she a passenger, and never met me. So, she can stop lying! Ask her about the tickets she received and her boyfriend received. This story really has nothing to do with my sexual assault other than Michael Sylvestri bringing it up and trying to hurt my case because he wants his Judge friend to make my life harder and ruin me to be vengeful.”
Ochanas said she “absolutely” showed up to the scene and accused Koether of being so drunk she may not have remembered their interactions.
Ochanas, upset over what happened to the father of their children, said Koether was smothering her and apologizing so much the cops separated them to keep tensions from flaring.
Ochanas said she photographed the crash scene and the damage to her vehicle, all of which she provided to The Trentonian.
“She’s a f—-ing idiot,” Ochanas said. “I didn’t even bother to get dressed. I didn’t even bother putting on a bra. I threw on a sweatshirt and went to the scene. … Why would I leave my man in the middle of the street?’
Ochanas described Koether as dressed in blue jeans and white shirt.
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