New Jersey Man Loses Job After Being Charged with Urinating on Child’s Memorial

A New Jersey man who was arrested and charged after he was recorded urinating on a memorial for a nine-year-old boy has now also lost his job.

Plumbing business owner Bruce Bellace said he felt had had no choice but to fire his own son, Bryan Bellace, after the arrest for defiling the memorial, according to the New York Post.

“I had to remove him from employment,” the business owner said Monday. “We apologized to the family,” said Bruce, adding, “I’m sorry for his actions. I’m not proud of him.”

For his part, Bryan has been contrite in public, saying that he made “a big mistake” and that he was very drunk at the time.

“It was a big mistake I made. I was intoxicated. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time,” Bryan said on Monday. “When I came to my senses the next day, I realized I made a huge mistake. I wish I could take it all back and make things right.”

The man said he would like to formally apologize to the child’s father for defiling the memorial to his dead son.

Police became involved after someone sent them a video that had been circulating on Snapchat, The Daily Wire reported.

Officials tracked Bryan down and arrested him, charging him with “lewdness, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, and having an open alcoholic beverage in a park.”

The memorial Bryan defiled had been erected for nine-year-old Christian Clopp, who died in 2012 from brain cancer.

Mark Clopp, the dead child’s father, was furious.

“So, my day started out horribly, after learning what happened to Christian’s memorial. After controlling my own emotions and assisting my family with same, I finally found a moment to put all of this into perspective,” the man said in a Facebook post.

“Aside from the two morons facing criminal charges, I saw a community once again come together for a cause. I’ve heard from hundreds of people offering assistance. Friends and strangers went to wash the memorial off,” Clopp added.

Clopp and his family and friends cleaned and disinfected the memorial. Later they started a fund to expand and improve the park.

Clopp also noted in a Facebook post that he refused to do any TV media hits on the vandalism of his boy’s memorial.

“I don’t think a 10-second clip of my feelings is going to change what happened in any way,” he wrote. “As a father and retired police officer, I think this incident can be turned into a positive by becoming a learning experience for all.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.