A New Jersey landlord stands accused of drugging his tenants with chloroform to prevent them “from waking up” so that he could sexually assault them in a series of incidents spanning multiple months, prosecutors said.
One of Craig Cardella’s tenants, a man who had been renting a room from the 60-year-old at his Mansfield Township home, told police that he awoke one night and found “Cardella in bed with him,” according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
While in the tenant’s bed, Cardella was “holding a mask over his mouth and nose while touching him sexually,” the man reported to police, the prosecutor’s office said in a Wednesday, January 21, news release.
Police began investigating Cardella in December 2024, according to prosecutors.
Now, Cardella has been indicted on 17 counts of first-degree kidnapping, 18 counts of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, 18 counts of third-degree invasion of privacy, 18 counts of third-degree endangering another person, and one count of fourth-degree stalking, the prosecutor’s office said.
The charges relate to the man who reported Cardella to Mansfield Township police as well as a second male tenant who had been renting a room from Cardella, according to prosecutors.
Cardella is represented by criminal defense attorney Robert M. Perry, who declined Luxury Handbag Shopping’s request for comment on Thursday, January 22.
When authorities executed a search warrant at Cardella’s home, prosecutors said they found a safe in Cardella’s closet, in which they discovered two bottles of a liquid plus prescription sleep medication and medical masks.
The liquid was identified as chloroform, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Chloroform is a clear liquid that was previously used as an anesthetic during surgical procedures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports the substance has “a pleasant, nonirritating odor and a slightly sweet taste.”
According to prosecutors, authorities also found “a camcorder and digital storage devices” inside Cardella’s safe.
A criminal complaint viewed by WPVI-TV says that the tenant who first came to police about Cardella told officers that he recalled one incident when “Cardella placed a silicone mask over his mouth and nose.”
“He smelled an odor coming from the mask that he described as smelling like permanent markers,” the TV station reported, citing the criminal complaint.
The man was scared, dazed and acted as if he was asleep, according to the complaint obtained by WPVI-TV.
On Tuesday, January 20, Cardella pleaded not guilty to the charges against him at an arraignment, prosecutors said.
Some of Cardella’s neighbors, while speaking with WPVI-TV, detailed their shock in reaction to the criminal case against him.
“When you pick a neighborhood, you think this is a safe neighborhood, this is a good area, my kids would be safe, they can go and walk outside,” one neighbor told the TV station. “But then they’re not because you don’t know who is living in a house next to you.”
The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office asks any potential victims of Cardella to contact a police detective at allen@mansfieldpd.org.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
