Bellmawr

Atilis Gym in Bellmawr has raised nearly half a million dollars in online donations, while facing six figure fines for violating the state's COVID protocols.

The state wants to collect on a recent chunk of daily fines, totaling $124,000, based on the Bellmawr gym's flagrant violations of pandemic protocols.

Gov. Phil Murphy has given the thumbs up for gyms to fully open starting Sept. 1 — and that includes the gym that's made national headlines for defying the governor.

The Bellmawr gym that's defiantly reopened since May is dealing with a lost license and more than $300,000 in fines, Ian Smith said.

Atilis Gym in EHT — owned by a different individual than the franchisees in Bellmawr who've seen national media attention for repeatedly defying Gov. Murphy's orders shutting gyms — was also caught operating illegally last week, police say.

The owners of the gym have been trying to stay open for the last few months in defiance of Gov. Murphy's executive orders.

Prosecutors for the state said the Bellmawr business can pay such steep fines given the "galling nature" of continued contempt.

It was leg day at Atilis Gym.

After warning a pair of defiant gym owners not to play games, a judge on Friday found the Atilis Gym of Bellmawr in contempt of court and granted the state permission to lock or barricade the gym.

A gym in Bellmawr has been given another chance to follow New Jersey's COVID-19 restrictions as a judge Monday denied the state a new court order to lock the owners out for a second time.