OCEAN COUNTY – A Toms River man was sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison after pleading guilty to weapons and drug offenses stemming from separate incidents in Toms River and Little Egg Harbor, Ocean County officials said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that Chardel Holman, 41, was sentenced Jan. 16, 2026, by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, P.J.Cr.P. Holman received a five-year prison term with a mandatory five-year period of parole ineligibility for being a certain person prohibited from possessing a firearm. He was also sentenced to a concurrent five-year term for conspiracy to possess less than one-half ounce of cocaine with intent to distribute.
Holman entered guilty pleas to both charges on Nov. 17, 2025.
The weapons charge arose from a Feb. 12, 2025, incident in Toms River, when police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash near Cedar Grove Road and Edken Avenue. Officers found a vehicle parked atop a snowbank with Holman asleep behind the wheel, authorities said. While removing him from the vehicle, police observed a handgun in plain view in the center console. A search incident to arrest also uncovered cocaine, officials said.
Investigators later determined Holman had a prior conviction for terroristic threats, making him legally barred from possessing a firearm in New Jersey. He was charged and lodged in the Ocean County Jail before being released under the state’s bail reform provisions.
The drug-related offense stemmed from a separate investigation on Sept. 13, 2025, when detectives from the Little Egg Harbor and Stafford township police departments were conducting a narcotics probe near a Walmart parking lot in Little Egg Harbor. Detectives attempted to stop a vehicle operated by Holman, who allegedly fled at a high rate of speed, threw a bag from the driver’s side window and ran from the scene on foot.
Following a brief pursuit, Holman was taken into custody, and detectives recovered the discarded bag, which was found to contain cocaine, authorities said. He has remained incarcerated at the Ocean County Jail since that arrest.
Billhimer credited Senior Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke for handling the case and praised the Toms River, Little Egg Harbor and Stafford township police departments for their coordinated investigative efforts that led to Holman’s convictions and sentence.
