UPDATE: Two Arrested in Ramapo College Shooting Scare

Two arrests were made Thursday after a 23-year-old West Orange man allegedly called his Ramapo College ex-girlfriend with a false claim that he had been shot prompting a lockdown of the campus late Wednesday night, Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli said. 

Gil D. Jaffe, 23, of West Orange, was arrested on several charges, including violation of a restraining order and making a false report, police said. Leonid Shtaygrad, 21 of Livingston, was charged with attempted theft by deception and other charges. 

In an appearance at Mahwah Municipal Court Thursday afternoon, Jaffe was ordered by Judge Anthony J. Gianni, Jr., to pay $27,500 bail on two charges, with a possibility of other payments owed.

Jaffe's attorney, Alan Rodetsky, said that Jaffe would be able to post bail by the end of the day. Judge Gianni ordered that Jaffe be held until that time, and then commented that Jaffe would likely need to appear at the Superior Court of New Jersey in Hackensack to follow up on the charges against him.

Shtaygrad, was released without bail, pending an appearance at the Superior Court of New Jersey in Hackensack within 48 hours.

According to police, Jaffe called his ex-girlfriend, a Ramapo College graduate who was attending a party on campus Wednesday night, claiming that he had been shot twice in the shoulder, and attempting to get her to send him cash. Shtaygrad then allegedly got on the phone purporting to be the shooter, and confirming the story that the Ramapo grad should send ransom money.

Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli said Jaffe was arrested on the following counts:

• attempt to commit the offense of theft by deception by purposely attempting property belonging to another;
• knowingly transmitting a false or baseless report or warning of an impending crime  to an unwitting individual causing panic and alarm
• violation of a Final Domestic Violence Restraining Order Issued by Essex County Superior Court Judge,
• purpose to harass another made communication in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm by repeatedly texting the phone of another.

Shtaygrad was also arrested for allegedly committing “the offense of theft by deception by assisting Gil Jaffe in purposely attempting to obtain property belonging to another, and assisting in knowingly transmitting a false or baseless report or warning of an impending crime causing panic and alarm,” according to Batelli.