Who is Christopher Gregor? Man sped treadmill causing son to fall repeatedly days before death
BARNEGAT, NEW JERSEY: The father of a six-year-old boy has been charged with child neglect for allegedly bullying him for being "fat" and causing him to fall on the treadmill several times as he sped the machine up. Identified as Christopher Gregor of Barnegat, New Jersey, the 29-year-old was charged with child endangerment following the death of his son Corey, who died in April this year. Although the charges were slammed months after the boy mysteriously died, Gregor allegedly got himself an attorney and turned himself in on July 9.
Documents from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey reveal that Gregor is not currently facing charges for the death of his child, but past incidents of child abuse has the prosecution scrutinizing the case more closely.
Court documents cite an incident from March 20, when Gregor and his son Corey were both at his apartment complex gym. Security footage seen by an investigator looking into the case allegedly showed Gregor increasing the speed of the treadmill Corey was running on. The boy can then be seen falling off the treadmill, but Gregor forces him to get back up and continued increasing the speed. The boy falls several times and continuing to force him back on the machine, at one point, Gregor even bites his son's head in the process.
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Who is Christopher Gregor?
Identified as a real estate agent in Piscataway, New Jersey on the website Zillow, Gregor's abusive behavior towards his son led to the boy's death, the dead child's mother Breanna Micciolo alleged. She told Jersey Shore Online how there were number of warning signs of abuse but the Department of Protection and Permanency (child social services) didn't help her enough despite repeated reports of abuse.
“The first time he visited his father, he came home with a busted lip,” Micciolo said. “I went to the police station, and they called DCPP (NJ Child Protective Services). Chris said he accidentally kicked him in the face when he was going to kick a soccer ball. They (DCPP) closed the case.”
Once in October 2019, the boy had come home from Gregor's place with burns all over his body, the mother alleged. “Corey told me his father told him he was fat and made him run on the treadmill,” Micciolo said. “What looked like rug burns were probably from him falling on the rubber on the treadmill.” Although Micciolo had contacted DCPP directly at the time, they closed the case after Gregor told them the boy fell off the treadmill. "He would tell us that his dad hit him, or he was trying to get away from his dad. There was just so much in a little bit of time. I would tell the caseworker from DCPP that he didn’t want to go with his father. Corey was hiding in closets and crying – kicking and screaming that he didn’t want to go. They told me he had to go anyway," Micciolo added.
How did Corey die?
The mother however told Crime Online that it wasn't the treadmill falls that ultimately killed Corey. She claimed an unknown incident had happened some 13 days prior to Corey's death and that may have led to the boy's passing. While authorities are yet to decide what killed the boy, Attorney Mark Galluci, who represents Gregor, claimed his client has denied all allegations and charges against him. “Mr Gregor has been aware of this investigation for several months. My office has and continues to do an independent investigation which includes the retention of a forensic expert,” Gallucci said.
Corey's autopsy indicated the boy died from concussions to the heart, said his mother, who also noted Corey was healthy and had no heart conditions before his death. Earlier this year, Micciolo had noticed bruises on the boy's body and physicians had requested her and Gregor to meet with a child abuse expert at the time. Micciolo told Crime Online that Gregor didn't show up for the appointment and instead took their son to the Southern Ocean County Medical Center. The boy died there the very same night. Gregor even refused to tell Micciolo which hospital he had taken Corey to. She found out about his death when cops came to her home and told her of the news.
“They came to notify me that Corey died. I was in shock,” Micciolo said.