Man admits dumping dirty diapers on roads ‘almost became a game’ for him, NJ cops say

A New Jersey man’s serial diaper dumping may seem funny, but the crime is far from victimless, police say.

For a year, the roads of Franklin Township, New Jersey, were bedeviled with the mysterious problem: Someone kept dropping loads of dirty diapers in the streets, police said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The diaper dumping stopped on Sunday morning, though. That’s when a Franklin Township police officer spotted a box truck dumping dirty diapers in a roadway around 3 a.m., and pulled over the man driving the truck.

The driver — William Friedman, a 68-year-old from Newfield, New Jersey — was taken to police headquarters to be interviewed, police said. He admitted he was the person who had been dumping dirty diapers around town and said it was a “joke,” according to police.

But it wasn’t a joke for the motorcyclist who crashed and totaled his ride on June 24, after he slid over a plastic bag loaded with dirty diapers, police said. Authorities described the crash as “serious.”

The motorcyclist sustained minor injuries in the wreck, NBC New York reports.

Friedman told authorities he began dumping the smelly surprises at the corner of Fries Mill Road and Coles Mill Road, according to police. He told officers that he later began dropping bundles on Route 47 and 40, which is where he was pulled over, police said.

“He would do it at least three times a week at different intersections,” said Franklin Township Lt. Matthew DeCesari, the Daily Journal reports. “He would do it a couple of months in one area and then move to a different intersection. We could never get a time down.”

Police said Friedman told them that getting away with his ongoing prank “almost became a game,” NBC reports.

“... Sometimes he saw the officer sitting in an area and would go somewhere else,” DeCesari said, according to the Daily Journal. “He’s claiming the diapers were his grandson’s.”

Friedman has been charged with interference with transportation, police said.

Police said Friedman also faces fines as high as $1,000 for violating township ordinances, the Daily Journal reports.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Man admits dumping dirty diapers on roads ‘almost became a game’ for him, NJ cops say."