Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced that Christopher Tarver, 46, of Jackson, a former Dunellen recreation director and former Middlesex County College men’s basketball coach, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving two additional victims.
On Feb. 22, Tarver pleaded guilty to the remaining charges in an indictment, for
endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual conduct with the child, two counts of official misconduct and one count of engaging in a pattern of official misconduct, according to the prosecutor.
Under an open plea agreement reached with Assistant Prosecutor Brian Shevlin, Tarver is facing a prison term of up to 25 years to run concurrent to the sentence he will receive for his 2017 trial conviction. As an open plea, there is no agreement as to the time he faces in state prison; that is left to the judge’s discretion, Carey said.
Tarver is scheduled to be sentenced in New Brunswick by state Superior Court Judge Colleen Flynn on May 4.
Tarver was previously found guilty on Nov. 15, 2017, by a jury in a sex assault trial of 20 counts, including eight counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of engaging in a pattern of official misconduct, one count of sexual assault, five counts of criminal sexual contact, four counts of official misconduct and one count of endangering the welfare of a child by possessing child pornography.
Tarver is facing a prison term of up to 50 years in state prison for the 2017 trial conviction.
Carey said an investigation began after one victim, now an adult, notified authorities. That victim was a member of the Monmouth Power Sports Club, a travel basketball team. Tarver had been the coach and executive director of the team since 1995.
Tarver began working as the recreation director in Dunellen, Middlesex County, in 2004, but was suspended from his position soon after he was arrested in 2014. Tarver was employed as a men’s basketball coach at Middlesex County College, Edison, from Oct. 21, 2006 to March 5, 2014 and became the head basketball coach on June 24, 2010.
