Jackson hit-and-run suspect pleads guilty

Sentencing is scheduled July 27 for the driver who Monday took responsibility for the death of an off-duty Watchung police officer from Brick, in a crash almost one year ago at a busy Jackson intersection.

Jason Wolek, 39, of Jackson, pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of vehicular homicide related to the death of Christopher L. Hoffman on East Veterans Highway at South Hope Chapel Road, according to information from the office of Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato.

Wolek, behind the wheel of a pickup truck while under license suspension, turned left in front of Hoffman's motorcycle, triggering the collision on June 7, 2014. Wolek was under the influence of heroin at the time, investigators said.

Hoffman, who died during hospitalization a short while later, was five days away from turning 29 years of age, according to his obituary at the time. He was an enlistee in the United States Air Force who joined the Watchung force after a term as a Seaside heights police officer.