A Howell man was sentenced Friday to three years in New Jersey State Prison for his role in a fatal off-road vehicle crash in Manchester Township that killed a 62-year-old passenger and endangered multiple children, authorities said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Brad Billhimer announced that Stephen McGuire, 48, was sentenced on Jan. 9, 2026, by Superior Court Judge David M. Fritch after previously pleading guilty to strict liability vehicular homicide and endangering the welfare of a child. The sentences will run concurrently. McGuire entered his guilty pleas on Nov. 3, 2025.
The charges stem from a Dec. 12, 2020, incident at Heritage Minerals Mine—also known as ASARCO—along Route 70 in Whiting. At about 8:30 p.m., officers from the Manchester Township Police Department responded to reports that a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) had driven into a lake on the property and submerged with passengers inside.
A joint investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit–Vehicular Homicide Squad and Manchester Township police determined that McGuire was operating the UTV, which carried James Grover, 62, of Howell, and three minors. The vehicle entered the lake and did not resurface. Other members of the group attempted to locate Grover but were unsuccessful.
Manchester Township police, along with the Manchester, Ridgeway, and Whiting Volunteer Fire Companies, conducted an underwater search and found the UTV overturned and submerged about 25 feet below the surface.
Grover was discovered attached to the vehicle by a safety harness. Despite rescue efforts by Manchester Township emergency medical technicians and Robert Wood Johnson Paramedics, Grover was pronounced dead at the scene.
As part of the investigation, McGuire was transported to Community Medical Center, where a court-authorized blood draw revealed a blood alcohol concentration of .127, according to prosecutors. In New Jersey, a driver is presumed intoxicated at a BAC of .08 or higher.
McGuire was arrested without incident at his Howell residence on Jan. 5, 2021, and later released under New Jersey’s bail reform law.
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rosecutor Billhimer said the resolution followed extensive discussions with Grover’s family. “This disposition of this case was reached only after extensive discussions with the family of Mr. Grover, who expressed an unequivocal desire to extend mercy to this defendant,” he said, adding that the family’s compassion “permits the healing process to begin” and that officials hope the outcome provides them some measure of peace.