Giants Stadium snowballer Jeffrey Lange has had prior run-ins with the law, it was revealed yesterday, including a 1989 arrest on a burglary charge and a 1991 conviction for assaulting police officers.
Lange, named and nabbed after the Giants put a $1,000 bounty on his head, was the most notorious of 18 people arrested so far for heaving snowballs during last weekend's Giants-Chargers game.
The Giants yesterday said they already had sent a check to the first of the 15 people who called seeking the reward for identifying Lange.
At the same time, the team backed away from its threat to boot all season ticket holders involved in last week's frozen barrage.
The Giants originally said some 75 season ticket holders would be banned from their seats even if they were only indirectly linked to the snow fight.
Team spokesman Pat Hanlon yesterday said any season ticket holders ejected from the game would definitely lose their season tickets.
But decisions for those who weren't at the game would be made on a case-by-case basis, he said.
One such case was Lange's, who said he was firing his snowballs from an unrelated season ticket holder's seat.
Lange's attorney, Robert Ballard of Flemington, N.J., said he didn't believe Lange's most recent run-in with the law would affect his current probation.
Lange was arrested in 1990 on charges of making terroristic threats, aggravated assault and resisting arrest after a run-in with Middlesex Borough cops.
Lange had been stopped by two cops and threatened to kill them, putting them in "immediate fear of death," according to the indictment.
In 1991, Lange pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault charge.
He was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to enroll in an in-patient alcohol treatment program, according to records.
Previously, in 1989, Lange had been nabbed on suspicion of burglary in New Jersey's Hunterdon County.
No details were available, but a court official said Lange enrolled in a special program for first-time offenders and had his case dismissed upon completion.
Lange's lawyer yesterday questioned what his client's criminal past has to do with tossing a snowball at Giants Stadium.
"It's irrelevant," Ballard said. "That was six years ago, when he was 20 years old. He's gone on to graduate college. He's held a job and become a responsible citizen."
Lange said he didn't throw a snowball on the field and was being made a scapegoat because of what happened in the stands.
The Giants were nearly forced to forfeit the game to the Chargers because of all the snowballs that were thrown on the field.
Lange told a television interviewer yesterday that he had lost his job as an administrative assistant at a computer company because of his latest problems with the law.
Ballard said Lange had been told not to show up for work by the temp agency that employs him.
"We're hoping that it's just until things have a chance to blow over," said Ballard.
New Jersey State Police yesterday identified the most recent two arrests in the case as John Jay Van Housen, 22, and Frank Jay Perna, 31, both of Belleville, N.J.
The men were caught by NBC's cameras in the fourth quarter firing snowballs from their seats in the upper deck.
They were turned in by people who called the Giants, apparently hoping for a reward, said John Hagerty, state police spokesman.
No reward had been offered, however.
Facebook
Twitter