UPDATE: Pretrial intervention clears Gregory Sykora of charges

A Somers Point businessman accused in a fire set to cover up an armed home invasion had the charges against him dismissed after he was retroactively admitted into pretrial intervention. He did not have to plead guilty as a condition of entrance. READ MORE

ORIGINAL STORY

A commissioner on the Atlantic County Board of Taxation is now charged in connection with a fire that was allegedly set to destroy evidence in an armed home invasion.

Gregory Sykora, chairman of the Somers Point Economic Development Commission, is charged with obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension or prosecution and witness tampering, Chief Robert Somers announced this week.

A Feb. 10 fire at Sure Storage on Chestnut Avenue burned evidence and property from what Somers called a violent home invasion the day before in Philadelphia.

Sykora, 56, is accused of hiding the arsonist in his place of business when police came there, as well as withholding surveillance video of the crime and those involved, according to the charges and affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.

Sykora and his wife own the self-storage business, according to the Sure Storage website.

The Atlantic County SWAT team served three no-knock search warrants March 10, at the residences of Sykora’s co-defendants, Somers said.

Morton Perskie, Thomas Andrews and Khristopher Akarman are charged with arson in the case. Sykora is not.

Andrews, 53, of Galloway Township, and Akarman, 47, of Somers Point, also face robbery charges in the home invasion, and are awaiting extradition to Philadelphia on those charges, Somers said.

Sykora is the owner of ERCO Ceiling, Blinds and Floors, and also serves on the Somers Point Business Association’s Board of Directors.

Akarman is on probation as part of a plea deal on a third-degree drug charge in 2018, court records show.

While police were serving the search warrant on Akarman, they found Mark Minter asleep with his girlfriend in a bed in the living room. A 10-year-old child was asleep in a trundle bed with an unsecured gun nearby.

Minter was charged with leaving a loaded firearm where a minor would reasonably be presumed to have access to it, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of a large-capacity magazine.

Andrews’ only prior criminal conviction appears to be a drug charge from 1990, when he was given a four-year sentence.

The Somers Point investigation was led by Detective Peter Burns.

NOTE: This story originally ran April 3, 2021. It was updated to include charges announced days later against Mark Minter.