During the most recent Gloucester County Commissioners meeting a man named Joe Nicholas made a several stunning admissions, and gave us the first real glimpse on what happened the day that two dogs died after being left in Shawn Layton’s county owned vehicle. Layton is both the fire Marshall for Gloucester County, as well a a council person in Mantua.

In a political flier sent to homes in the Gloucester County area, a person named Joe Nick, signed a letter that says “Let me set the record straight: Ember was on loan to Gloucester County, but I was her owner. Embers death was a tragic accident. I’ve seen zero evidence of any cover up.”, but in a video obtained of Mr. Joe Nick, AKA Joe Nicholas, he clearly states that it was him that literally “covered up the dogs”.

The video of what Nicholas said during last Wednesday’s Gloucester County Commissioners Meeting started after he had already begun speaking, but it starts with him stating “Hear about it, anybody? I got all the documentation, and I got all the documentation. You don’t want to know why you never heard about it? Bercause we honor the dead (unintelligible) I burried the dog.  That email was something crazy, political gains in sight. (unintelligble grunt) You better (unintelligible) in New Jersey. I’ve been doing this for 42 years!”.

Nicholas went on by saying “My dogs are my family, every dog I got is buried in my backyard. I might as well go to prison, That’s bogus.  Shawn Layton didn’t, Shawn Layton couldn’t even talk when I got there.  I was the third person on the scene, third person! I took the dogs out of the car. I know what happened, I covered the dogs up, I had someone go get me a backhoe, and dig a hole, because I wanted that boy to stop suffering.”, with the “boy” referring to the 32 year Gloucester Fire Marshall, and Mantua Council person, Shawn Layton.

Nicholas went on, saying “I wanted that boy (Layton) to get up off the ground and stop crying. It was the only thing to do to bring closure, that’s all I wanted.  Three days later, the world is telling me I covered something up?”, yet this if the first time in two months that anyone knew anything about Joe Nicholas having anything to do with this fiasco, so how could the world have been telling Nicholas anything?

Nicholas went on, emotionally stating “I covered up, OK let’s get it straight. Shawn Layton and Chad Brunner, he (?) showed up when it was time, when Chad Brunner was out somewhere, when he got there I took those dogs out of that ground, and I went to that man (Brunner) and said, I’m taking my dog back now, and he said “ok, that was the deal”, and I buried it with his (Layton’s) dog, because those dogs died together. THEY DESERVED THAT!  But I got POLITICS, (unintelligble) at my daughter, my daughter riding all over the state, hearing about this. K9 officer killed, on a billboard?”, with the video of his public comments ending at that point.

Even though we do not have it on video just yet, we have been told that Nicholas also claimed that he was knowingly breaking a gag order of some type. So if that is true, not only did he admit to being the one who buried the two dogs after he removed them from the SUV, but he also admitted to breaking a gag order, as well as burying numerous dogs on his own property, which in NJ, neither are legal to do.