WEST ORANGE — The owner of a popular bar in West Orange is in jail after being charged with sexual assault and endangerment of two fifteen-year-old boys, officials said. Thomas Halligan, 49, of West Orange, and his wife, Lorraine Murphy, were arrested Thursday night at about 10 p.m. at the bar he owned, Halligan’s Public House, said township spokeswoman Jessica...
WEST ORANGE — The owner of a popular bar in West Orange is in jail after being charged with sexual assault and endangerment of two fifteen-year-old boys, officials said.
Thomas Halligan, 49, of West Orange, and his wife, Lorraine Murphy, were arrested Thursday night at about 10 p.m. at the bar he owned, Halligan’s Public House, said township spokeswoman Jessica Glicker.
Halligan was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, she said. He is being held at the Essex County Jail on $400,000 bail with no 10 percent option, she said.
Lorraine Murphy, 57, was arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and drug possession and is being held on $50,000, she said.
The investigation into Halligan and Murphy began when one victim, now an adult, approached authorities, Glicker said.
Township police and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office are jointly investigating the charges, she said.