Monmouth County, N.J. GOP Furious Over Phone Number Hijacking
FREEHOLD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Republican Party officials in Monmouth County were furious this week, after their phone number was hijacked and made to appear as if it was being used to make a 4 a.m. robocall purporting to urge residents to vote for Sen. Joe Kyrillos.
Monmouth County Republican Committee Chairman John Bennett told 1010 WINS the party did not authorize the calls and wants to find out who is responsible.
"That number was definitely hijacked. It was absolutely not done by anyone on our staff, or authorized. The office was locked up at 4 o'clock. Someone took our phone number and purported to use that phone number as one from where these calls were made. They were not made from that number," he said.
Bennett said the hijacker broke the law by masking the call to make it look like it came from the Monmouth County GOP.
He said he believed the culprit had political motivations.
"We believe that this is a dirty trick by someone that has been done to suppress voter turnout," Bennett said.
Kyrillos (R-Monmouth County), a 25-year incumbent, defeated tea party activist Leigh-Ann Bellew in the Republican primary Tuesday.
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