Atlantic City Fugitive, Charged with Bail Jumping after Failure to Appear for Sentencing
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
MAYS LANDING- An Atlantic City man who was scheduled to be sentenced on April 13, 2018, is now a fugitive additionally charged with bail jumping, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner announced.
On February 21, 2018, Taquay Dunston, 20, joined four other males who pleaded guilty in connection to the Taj Mahal shooting. Dunston pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree possession of a handgun for unlawful purposes and fourth-degree aggravated assault by pointing a firearm, subject to an agreement that he serve consecutive terms totaling eleven years in New Jersey State Prison, with a stipulated period of parole ineligibility of six years. After pleading guilty, Dunston posted monetary bail on March 11, 2018. Dunston was scheduled to be sentenced on April 13, 2018, but failed to appear in court for sentencing. A warrant for his arrest for the crime of bail jumping has been issued.
On February 21, 2018, Taquay Dunston of Atlantic City pleaded guilty and admitted his role in the 2016 gang-related shooting inside the Trump Taj Mahal Casino/Hotel on the 47th floor, which occurred at the start of the Easter holiday weekend on March 24, 2016, when Dunston was 18 years-of-age. An extensive probe by the Atlantic City Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) revealed approximately 20 teenagers attended a party at a Trump Taj Mahal hotel room. The party resulted in a shooting between two rival Atlantic City gangs, and video surveillance captured Dunston firing a handgun into the hotel room. The motivation for the shooting was an ongoing dispute between the Back Maryland-area Head Shot Gang and the Stanley Holmes Village-area Fettigeez gang.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Dunston is asked to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-909-7800 or go to the Prosecutor’s Office Web site at http://www.acpo.org/tips.html and provide information by filling out the form anonymously on the Submit a Tip page. People can also call Crime Stoppers at 609-652-1234 or 1-800-658-8477 (TIPS) or visit the Crime Stoppers Website at http://www.crimestoppersatlantic.com/. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those who commit crimes in Atlantic County.