Bridgeton Man on Sexual Assault Charges Re-Arrested After Paperwork Error

Timothy J. Meadows, 29, of Bridgeton, was taken back into custody by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team in the Mill Spring area after a procedural lapse led to his February release from North Carolina custody, authorities said. Court records in New Jersey show Meadows was charged in Cumberland County on Nov. 3 with sexually assaulting and endangering a child on Aug. 1, 2022; the alleged victim is described as younger than 13 years old.

Meadows was initially arrested in North Carolina on Nov. 13, when Polk County deputies said he refused extradition. New Jersey officials began the process of obtaining a governor’s warrant to authorize the interstate transfer, a document described by officials as "a formal, high level, executive document issued to authorize the arrest and extradition of a fugitive from one state to another, typically for felonies or serious crimes."

Polk County officials say the governor’s warrant paperwork did not arrive in time. A Polk County spokeswoman told reporters, "The paperwork took such a long time from New Jersey that he ended up getting out," and the sheriff’s office said North Carolina was required to release Meadows on Feb. 11. That release left Meadows with six days of freedom before he was located and re-arrested on a Tuesday in the Mill Spring area by the sheriff’s SWAT team.

After the re-arrest, Polk County officials placed Meadows in the Polk County jail; authorities said he will be sent back to New Jersey to face the Cumberland County charges. The sequence, charged Nov. 3 in New Jersey, arrested Nov. 13 in North Carolina, released Feb. 11 for lack of a governor’s warrant, then re-arrested days later, underscores the role of formal extradition paperwork in interstate criminal cases and the narrow window such delays can create.

This matter concerns Cumberland County, New Jersey; it is separate from a recent child-sexual-assault case reported in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania involving a different suspect, Zachary Christopher Yohn. Prosecutors in Cumberland County, New Jersey, hold the charging documents and will determine the next court steps once Meadows is transferred back to the state. Polk County Sheriff’s Office statements and the court records that list the Aug. 1, 2022 incident and the Nov. 3 charging date are central to that transfer and to any schedule for arraignment or detention in New Jersey.