IAPE Evidence Blog

NorthJersey.com, northjersey.com, Neigh­bor News (Denville Edi­tion)
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Denville Town­ship, NJ

Mor­ris County Pros­e­cu­tor Robert A. Bianchi, Esq., announced on Oct. 27 that Denville Police Offi­cer Eugene Blood, 38, had been charge with offi­cial mis­con­duct and other crim­i­nal offenses.

Accord­ing to a state­ment released by the prosecutor’s office, in April 2011, Denville Lt. Paul Nigro con­tacted the Mor­ris County Prosecutor’s Office Pro­fes­sional Stan­dards Unit to report that he sus­pected that some­one was tam­per­ing with the Police Department’s evi­dence room.

The inves­ti­ga­tion, which was jointly con­ducted between the Mor­ris County Prosecutor’s Office Pro­fes­sional Stan­dards Unit and Tech­ni­cal Assis­tance Response Unit (TARU) and the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment, alleges that Offi­cer Blood broke into the Denville Town­ship Police Department’s evi­dence room and allegedly stole con­trolled dan­ger­ous sub­stances that were in evidence.

The inves­ti­ga­tion, reports say, also included the assign­ment of a mem­ber of the Pro­fes­sional Stan­dards Unit to the police depart­ment for a four month period.

The list of charges against Offi­cer Blood include two counts of offi­cial mis­con­duct, third degree charge of bur­glary and attempted bur­glary, theft of con­trolled dan­ger­ous sub­stances, attempted theft of con­trolled dan­ger­ous sub­stances and crim­i­nal mischief.

“We imme­di­ately brought for­ward this mat­ter as soon as we iden­ti­fied that we had an issue,” said Chief Christo­pher Wag­ner. “I am extremely dis­ap­pointed in the actions of this one officer.”

Offi­cer Blood was hired by the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment on Jan­u­ary of 2003 and had served in the department’s patrol divi­sion and in the Detec­tive Bureau and Police Depart­ment Evi­dence Custodian.

“I do, how­ever, stand by all of the other fine offi­cers of the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment who wear the uni­form with pride and go out each and every day to serve the res­i­dents of Denville Town­ship with honor and integrity,” Chief Wag­ner said. “Offi­cer Blood has been sus­pended with­out pay from the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment since the end of August 2011.”

Pros­e­cu­tor Bianchi also com­mended Chief Christo­pher Wag­ner and Lt. Paul Nigro for imme­di­ately bring­ing the sit­u­a­tion to the atten­tion of the Pro­fes­sional Stan­dards Unit.

“These alle­ga­tions are very seri­ous in and of them­selves, as well as the fact that it com­pro­mised numer­ous crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tions,” said Mor­ris County Pros­e­cu­tor Robert A. Bianchi, Esq. “The Mor­ris County Prosecutor’s Office and the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment have spent the past four months exam­in­ing every piece of evi­dence on every case in the Denville Town­ship Police Department’s evi­dence room to deter­mine what cases have been com­pro­mised. On cases that may have been com­pro­mised in Supe­rior Court, this office is in the process of noti­fy­ing all affected defen­dants and/or their attor­neys of the inves­ti­ga­tion. The same will occur in Munic­i­pal Court, as well.”

Bianchi also said that the “mat­ter is lim­ited to this one offi­cer, and is by no means a reflec­tion of the Denville Town­ship Police Depart­ment. Chief Wag­ner and Lieu­tenant Nigro have been involved in every aspect of this inves­ti­ga­tion. They have pro­fes­sion­ally and admirably rep­re­sented the oth­er­wise fine offi­cers of the Denville Town­ship Police Department.”

Offi­cer Blood will be sched­uled to appear for his first appear­ance for arraignment.

Despite these pend­ing charges every defen­dant is pre­sumed inno­cent, unless and until found guilty beyond a rea­son­able doubt fol­low­ing a jury trial at which the defen­dant has all of his or her rights guar­an­teed by the U.S. and New Jer­sey Con­sti­tu­tion and rel­e­vant state law.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Star-Ledger, nj.com
BYLINE: Ben Horowitz/The Star-Ledger
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Denville, NJ

For­mer Denville police offi­cer, Eugene Blood, right, appears in Supe­rior Court with his attor­ney Edward Bilinkas, left. Blood pleaded guilty to break­ing into the police evi­dence locker to steal drugs for his own use. Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger/Court Pool

DENVILLE — A vet­eran Denville police offi­cer pleaded guilty today to steal­ing drugs from the department’s evi­dence room.

Eugene Blood, 38, a Denville res­i­dent who has served on the force for nine years, admit­ted tak­ing less than $200 worth of oxy­codone and heroin on var­i­ous dates in 2010 and 2011.

Under a plea agree­ment with the Mor­ris County Prosecutor’s Office, Blood will receive a three-year state prison sen­tence that would require him to serve two years before becom­ing eli­gi­ble for parole.

Blood also agreed to give up his job, his pen­sion and future pub­lic employment.

Blood, who was expe­ri­enc­ing neck and back prob­lems, became addicted to pain killers and was tak­ing “up to 20 pain pills a day,” said his attor­ney, Edward Bilinkas.

Blood pleaded guilty to a sin­gle count of offi­cial mis­con­duct. He had also faced six other charges, includ­ing bur­glary and theft of a con­trolled dan­ger­ous substance.

Blood, who was arrested just a month ago, decided “from day one to plead guilty and put this cir­cum­stance behind him,” Bilinkas said.

Blood is to be sen­tenced on Jan. 20 in Supe­rior Court in Morristown.

Mor­ris County Pros­e­cu­tor Robert Bianchi, who appeared in court for the plea, called it “a very sad case.”

He pointed out that “numer­ous cases have been com­pro­mised” because of the thefts, but added, “I’ve never seen an offi­cer so will­ing to accept responsibility.”

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Gazette (Hawthorne Edi­tion), North Jer­sey Media Group, NorthJersey.com
BYLINE: JUSTIN ZAREMBA STAFF WRITER
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Hale­don, NJ

Supe­rior Court judge dis­misses admin­is­tra­tive charges against the chief

Hale­don Police Chief Louis Mer­curo is back at work after a judge dis­missed charges against him. NICK MESSINA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Hale­don

Police Chief Louis Mer­curo was rein­stated after a Supe­rior Court judge dis­missed admin­is­tra­tive charges against him fol­low­ing a two-year sus­pen­sion and pub­li­cized legal fight.

Mer­curo, a 32-year vet­eran of the Hale­don Police Depart­ment, was sus­pended on admin­is­tra­tive charges on June 5, 2009, the day after he accused a mem­ber of the Hale­don Coun­cil of being under inves­ti­ga­tion for cocaine use in a the­atri­cal dis­play at a town meet­ing. Mer­curo was ini­tially sus­pended with­out pay, but a court order later amended his sus­pen­sion to include pay.

Judge Thomas J. La Conte agreed with Mercuro’s attor­neys on Oct. 14 that the bor­ough had no cod­i­fied process for how to hear dis­ci­pli­nary charges against a police chief and that Richard Cush­ing, the hear­ing offi­cer assigned to decide the case, had a con­flict of inter­est because he pre­vi­ously rep­re­sented the bor­ough as an attor­ney in other matters.

Mercuro’s attor­ney, Stu­art Alter­man, said his client had already resumed his position.

“Today is a good day for Louis Mer­curo,” Alter­man said. “He has resumed his posi­tion as chief. He’s sit­ting behind his desk right now and request­ing the sta­tus of all cases over the last 24 months.”

Mer­curo was unavail­able for com­ment, but his wife, Nancy, said she was “pleased” with the news.

Mayor Domenick Stam­pone said the bor­ough would adhere to the rul­ing, adding that he was still wait­ing for a detailed review of the decision.

“We obvi­ously will abide by what­ever the judge says to do,” Stam­pone said. “We haven’t made any deci­sion as to what we will do but we are con­sid­er­ing our options includ­ing an appeal.”

Ear­lier this year, Mercuro’s fed­eral law­suit against the bor­ough for the alleged vio­la­tion of his civil rights was delayed pend­ing the res­o­lu­tion of his dis­ci­pli­nary hear­ing. Alter­man said he planned to amend the suit “to reflect what occurred today” and would seek “com­pen­satory and puni­tive dam­ages and other such relief that would be entitled.”

Alter­man added that he would invoice the bor­ough for his attor­ney fees, inves­ti­ga­tion costs and other fees.

Dur­ing the June 4, 2009 meet­ing, Mer­curo claimed he was approached by inves­ti­ga­tors from police agen­cies in 2008 who were look­ing into cocaine use among mem­bers of the coun­cil. Mer­curo alleged he was shown a sworn affi­davit from a local bar owner who related going to New York City in a chauf­feured lim­ou­sine with two mem­bers of the coun­cil at the time. Var­i­ous law enforce­ment agen­cies includ­ing the Pas­saic County Prosecutor’s Office have stated the claims were invalid.

Mer­curo refused to pub­licly name the coun­cil mem­ber at the June 4, 2009 coun­cil meet­ing or in sub­se­quent inter­views, but he later alleged in his fed­eral law­suit against the bor­ough that Coun­cil­woman Heather Kilmin­ster and for­mer Coun­cil­man Alan Souto, who was impris­oned in 2009, were under inves­ti­ga­tion for cocaine use by State Police and the FBI.

Souto, a for­mer Pas­saic County Sheriff’s offi­cer, pleaded guilty to steal­ing 100 pounds of cocaine and heroin from an evi­dence locker at the Pas­saic County Sheriff’s Office and par­tic­i­pat­ing in a drug dis­tri­b­u­tion ring along with Henry Cortes, a box­ing man­ager from Pater­son who was respon­si­ble for deliv­er­ing the drugs to the streets of Pater­son. Cortes and Kendall Holt, a for­mer boxer, of Wood­land Park both pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug ring.

In his fed­eral law­suit against the bor­ough, Mer­curo alleges that coun­cil mem­bers also inter­fered with his inves­ti­ga­tion of sev­eral local bars includ­ing Jimmy Geez, The Bel­mont Tav­ern and Celebri­ties Cafe for vio­lat­ing town ordi­nances and serv­ing alco­hol to minors. Mer­curo fur­ther claims that a week prior to the June 4, 2009 coun­cil meet­ing, Kilmin­ster and Coun­cil­man Rey Mar­tinez wanted to ter­mi­nate his employ­ment with­out suf­fi­cient basis.

Mar­tinez has pre­vi­ously denied Mercuro’s alle­ga­tions, while Kilmin­ster has refused to comment.

In May 2010, Kilmin­ster filed a law­suit against Mer­curo and the bor­ough alleg­ing sex­ual harass­ment, slan­der and libel. Alter­man said Kilminster’s law­suit was “frivolous.”

E-mail: zaremba@northjersey.com

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org