On Jan. 20, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ordered the Borough to reinstate Sergeant Kenneth Riley and reimburse him for back pay and attorney fees, Riley’s attorney Jeff Garrigan said.
“I said from day one there was no merit to [the case],” Garrigan noted. “But the police powers decided they wanted to pursue it.”
Borough Council member Roger Martindell also sharply criticized the case, noting that the department incurred massive legal fees in civil, administrative and criminal cases, a “colossal waste of Borough taxpayer’s money.”
Borough police and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Riley improperly accessed dash camera footage in January 2008 from a traffic stop for a person suspected of drunk driving, a case which involved officers under Riley’s command. Robert Currier, then a sergeant, was also on the scene and allowed the suspect to urinate in bushes on private property, Garrigan said.
The Borough and prosecutor’s office alleged that Riley then showed other officers the footage “in an effort to adversely affect another officer’s standing in the department,” Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said in a statement. Prosecutors also asserted that Riley was dishonest when asked when and why he accessed the database.
Garrigan insisted that Riley was simply accessing the tapes to “make sure that the video was working properly” and that the tapes were not disabled.
Riley has maintained his innocence but was suspended from the department with pay while the department conducted an internal investigation in 2008.
In September 2008, a grand jury returned a six-count indictment against Riley, including charges of computer criminal activity, unlawful access and disclosure of computer data and official misconduct. Riley was then suspended without pay though the Borough banked his salary in case of his return.
Though a judge dismissed the criminal charges a year later, the Borough continued to pursue administrative charges in a move Garrigan criticized.
“They should’ve realized then that they had no case. Why they continued ... makes no sense,” he said.
Martindell said the continued proceedings showed there was “some internal agenda that was being advanced ... without appropriate review by the elected officials.”
Borough Council president Kevin Wilkes ’83 denied there was an internal agenda, adding that Riley’s disciplinary proceedings must be placed in context.
“There were a number of departmental disciplinary actions taken over the course of the past two years. Sergeant Riley wasn’t the only one,” Wilkes said.
An administrative hearing officer subsequently found Riley guilty. Garrigan appealed the hearing officer’s decision to Mercer County Superior Court, where Feinberg reversed the decision.
Wilkes said the Borough has not made a final decision whether to appeal the ruling, adding, “It’s not clear to me that an appeal would be successful given the judge’s pretty complete dismissal of our case.”
Martindell said the police department leadership did not keep the Borough Council closely enough informed about the pursuit of charges.
“Decisions were made without any appropriate consultation with the civilian management that’s charged with raising the funds to pay for the consequences of the disciplinary action,” he said. “It affects the tax payers, and the department shouldn’t be making these decisions in a vacuum.”
The Borough owes Riley $200,000 to $250,000 in back pay and must also pay legal fees of around $130,000, Garrigan said. The Borough and Riley have 30 days to resolve exact costs or the matter will return to court.
The amount has not been finalized because any income Riley earned while suspended will be deducted from the final amount of back pay, Wilkes said.
While suspended, Garrigan said, Riley performed “odd jobs really to just try to support his family while he was waiting the whole thing out,” including working for a landscaping company and at a golf course.
Department spokesman Captain Nicholas Sutter directed all questions to Chief David Dudeck, who did not respond to a request for comment.
In the three years since the beginning of the case both Sutter, who led the department’s internal investigation, and Currier received promotions and are still at the department; Sutter was promoted to captain and Currier to lieutenant. The chief at the time of the incident, Anthony Federico, passed away in 2009 and was replaced by Dudeck.
Riley has “never had any problems with the current chief and doesn’t anticipate any,” Garrigan said.
Riley’s reinstatement comes about 10 months after the Borough Council approved a controversial restructuring of the department authorizing the police to hire three additional officers.
In addition to hiring those officers, the Borough also promoted a sergeant to fill Riley’s departed spot. With Riley’s return, the department would have seven sergeants, but Borough ordinance only allows six sergeants, Wilkes said.
The Borough will have to temporarily change the ordinance or demote Sergeant Christopher Tash, Riley’s replacement.
“The whole thing was just messy,” Martindell said. “It wasn’t thought out.”
Nevertheless, Garrigan said, Riley is ready to return to work.
“To my client’s credit, he’s put all that behind him,” Garrigan said. “He just wants to move forward.”
Riley is currently undergoing retraining for information that he missed. He also took and passed his firearms qualifying test, Wilkes said.
“He’s working his way back into assignment,” he added. “We’re all moving forward.”
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