New Jersey
Nov. 17, 2025
A Toms River police officer accused earlier this year of breaking into her former boyfriend’s home pleaded guilty Monday and will now forfeit her position with the department, authorities said.
Rebecca Sayegh, 32, of Toms River, pleaded guilty to burglary, criminal mischief and simple assault, according to a statement from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sayegh once lived in the home with her former boyfriend, whom she dated for five years, according to her attorney Terrance Turnbach.
She was off-duty when she used a baton to smash the front door glass and enter the home in the Bayville section of Berkeley on April 25 at about 11:20 p.m. as her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend sat in the living room, according to prosecutors.
Sayegh began arguing with the pair after entering, and the verbal dispute turned physical when Sayegh began pushing and shoving both victims, according to Assistant Prosecutor Isabella Young.
The woman suffered swelling to the eye when Sayegh poked her with her fingernail, Young said.
Sayegh threw a plant back into the living room and then went upstairs to break items and rip pictures off the wall as her ex-boyfriend and the other woman retreated to the backyard to call 911, Young said.
She also scratched the hood of one of the victims’ vehicles, authorities said.
Sayegh also tried to fight with responding officers and physically resisted being arrested, authorities said. She was also accused of threatening to burn the house down as police walked her down the driveway.
She caused $2,000 worth of damage to the house and $500 in damage to a car, Young said.
Following her arrest, she was released from the Ocean County Jail as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform, the office said.
Sayegh now faces three months in jail as a condition of probation and will likely be ordered to have no contact with the victims and will have to pay restitution to them, officials said.
In addition to forfeiting her position with the department, her plea deal will not allow her to be publicly employed in the state, the office said.
Sayegh had filed a lawsuit against the department and township last year, alleging that former Toms River Police Chief Mitch Little and other superiors sexually harassed her and passed her up for promotions based on her gender. In the lawsuit, she alleged a “boys club” atmosphere prevailed.
As of Monday afternoon, the lawsuit was still pending,