Two female officers in the Philadelphia Police Department have alleged that Chief Inspector Carl Holmes sexually harassed them. Michele Vandegrift, a detective who has been on the force for 13 years, filed a lawsuit last summer, alleging that Holmes had made numerous sexual comments to her, and had actually sexually assaulted her in 2007. Vandegrift […]
A civil sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against former Mercer County prosecutor Joseph Bocchini in January, 2017. The complaint, filed by an anonymous subordinate, alleges that Bocchini repeatedly used lewd and suggestive language, and forced himself upon her while working as her supervisor. In papers filed in Mercer County Superior4 Court on January 20, the […]
It’s the law-in New Jersey as well as 37 other states-police can set up sobriety checkpoints and seek to determine whether drivers are under the influence of drugs or alcohol while behind the wheel. The provisions of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, protecting citizens from unreasonable search and seizure, have limited application in […]
The Newark Police Department, New Jersey’s largest department, is a thousand-member force that patrols one of the Northeast’s most violent cities. This NJPD will be placed under federal oversight, and court-ordered reform, for violating its residents’ civil rights by: In 2011, less than a year after a report from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) […]
In New Jersey, if you interfere with a law enforcement officer in the performance of his or her duty, or if you refuse to cooperate, you can face criminal charges, from resisting arrest to obstruction of justice to hindering. Unfortunately, because of the subjective nature of the offense, you can often be charged with resisting arrest or […]
It doesn’t pay to bribe New Jersey Transit officers, as Edward O’Neill, age 53, found out the hard way. O’Neill, president of PPW Contracting in Lakewood, pleaded guilty to bribing NJ Transit terminal manager Donna Schiereck. Incidentally, Schiereck was also charged in this case, and has retired as a manager of the Trenton station terminals. […]
There is trouble, big trouble, in River City, folks. It turns out nearly 50 percent of black men, 44 percent of Hispanic men, and 40 percent of white men have been arrested at least once by age 23, according to a new study published in Crime and Delinquency. That’s a lot of law enforcement! What’s […]
An Ocean County special operations squad raided a doctor’s office on January 24, searching for evidence of illegal drug prescriptions. The doctor in question, Dr. Liviu Holca, age 55, is a family practitioner who was arrested for writing unlawful prescriptions of drugs like Percocet and Xanax. The family practitioner’s bail was set at $225,000. Evidently, […]
Even lawyers are answerable to the law. New Jersey’s Disciplinary Review Board has recommended suspensions for two attorneys who have evidently neglected clients and their cases. Nine clients have accused Anita Lang Walch, a New Jersey City Solo bankruptcy practitioner, with collecting retainers but doing little work since taking on their cases. She evidently drafted […]
