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6 New Jersey cops charged with protecting targets of drug probe
By DOUGLASS CROUSE
NorthJersey.com
October 28, 2004
Drug test results have come back negative for all 10 law enforcement officers tested as part of a narcotics-ring investigation by the Passaic County prosecutor.
Union locals representing seven of the officers sued Prosecutor James Avigliano in August, saying he lacked the authority to order the tests. Three of the officers are employed by Wayne and four by the Sheriff's Department. Avigliano has declined to say where the other three officers work.
As part of a preliminary ruling in late August, a state judge instructed the Prosecutor's Office to keep the seven officers' test results confidential - not even sharing them with the officers' department heads - until the case gets a full hearing.
The Record received word of the results on Wednesday from an anonymous caller. When contacted for confirmation, Wayne PBA President Robert Simpson said the union's attorney had received a call from a Prosecutor's Office official on Friday relaying the results and asking that the unions drop their lawsuit.
"I said absolutely not," Simpson said. "We knew these officers were never using drugs. We want to continue with this lawsuit to make sure that no police officer ever goes through this again. The prosecutor has damaged a lot of reputations."
When contacted on Wednesday, Avigliano confirmed that the results of the tests were negative. But he said if any officer's reputation has been hurt, he is not to blame.
"I'll confirm [the results] since it's already out there because they chose to call the newspapers," he said of the officers and their union representatives. "But it was not me who put all these people's names out there. They put them in their lawsuit. My office knows how to keep a secret."
Avigliano said the subject of the test results came up as part of settlement talks between his office and the attorney for the PBA locals, Merick Limsky. He said they were meant to be kept private.
"It's up to them whether they continue [the lawsuit]," he said of the union locals. "But I'm going to defend myself and not cede my authority to anyone. I will continue to serve as the chief law enforcement officer in Passaic County."
In all, Avigliano directed 10 officers from different county law enforcement agencies to undergo testing as part of his office's investigation into a cocaine and steroid ring. The prosecutor has said he believes at least one officer may have tipped off drug dealers to a raid set for Aug. 9.
Because of the leak, Avigliano said, investigators were forced to act hours earlier than planned, arresting 19 North Jersey residents on Aug. 8 and 9 on drug-related charges.
Pompton Lakes Patrolman Dennis DePrima was arrested on Aug. 20 for his alleged involvement in the ring, and Sheriff's Department Officer Gerald Ward was named in a related internal affairs investigation.
All but one of the drug tests for the 10 officers took place on Aug. 19, with a specific test for steroids added to the standard regimen.
Police union locals say the prosecutor exceeded his authority and failed to give a specific reason for the tests.
Avigliano said he and his staff concluded they were within their rights after reviewing the state attorney general's testing guidelines. He said he then alerted each department head to his plans.
The next hearing on the union's lawsuit is scheduled for Nov. 29 in state Superior Court.
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Cop charged with tipping off dealer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
By ASJYLYN LODER
HERALD NEWS
Sheriff's Officer Gerald Ward, a 22-year department veteran,
appeared Monday in Wayne Municipal Court on charges that he
tipped off members of a drug ring to an impending raid.
The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office arrested Ward on
Friday. The West Milford resident is charged with misconduct
in office and hindering apprehension. The misconduct charge
carries a penalty of five to 10 years in prison, and hindering
apprehension is punishable by three to five years, said Chief
Assistant Prosecutor Jay W. McCann, who heads the white-collar
crime and government corruption unit in Wayne.
The charges stem from an Aug. 8 and 9 raid in which 19 alleged
members of a drug ring were arrested for selling anabolic
steroids, cocaine, the painkiller OxyContin and other
prescription medications. The bust was made by the joint
narcotics task force, which is comprised of sheriff's
officers, municipal police and investigators from the
prosecutor's office.
The prosecutor's office alleges that Ward warned Charles Post,
who was arrested in the Aug. 9 drug bust, that there was a
warrant for his arrest. Post drove a yellow Ferrari, and Ward
allegedly helped him change cars to elude arrest, McCann said.
Post was charged with being a leader of a drug distribution
network.
"To me it's unfortunate that an individual that has had a long
and good career in law enforcement chose to act in the fashion
that he did, which could result in his imprisonment and loss
of pension and certainly loss of standing in the law
enforcement community," Passaic County Prosecutor James
Avigliano said.
Ward's attorney, Pat Caserta of Fairfield, said Monday that
his client intends to plead not guilty.
Ward could not be reached for comment.
An internal leak forced police to conduct the August raid
earlier than planned, prompting an investigation into whether
cops tipped off the alleged dealers. Less than two weeks after
the raid, Pompton Lakes Officer Dennis DePrima was arrested
and charged with official misconduct and conspiracy to
distribute drugs.
The prosecutor's office has not ruled out charges against
additional law enforcement officers, McCann said.
At the time of the bust, Ward worked on a joint anti-gang task
force assigned to the prosecutor. After the arrests, Ward, who
earns $77,944, was moved to the jail pending an internal
affairs investigation.
Since then, Ward has put in for retirement, which would be
effective Jan. 1, 2005, said Bill Maer, sheriff's department
spokesman.
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Officer is charged with official misconduct
Asbury Park Press
10/28/05
AP
An undercover officer on Thursday became the third lawman
to be arrested and accused of leaking confidential information to a
ring of steroid dealers.
The charges against Ringwood Officer Paul Kleiber follow a 14-month
investigation by the Passaic County prosecutor's office. In July
2004, while assigned to the county's narcotics task force as an
undercover officer, Kleiber tipped the steroid ring to the
investigation, officials said. Kleiber is charged with official
misconduct, conspiracy and hindering prosecution, and could face up
to 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
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Cop charged in leak of probe
Friday, December 2, 2005
By EMAN VAROQUA
NorthJersey.com
A Pompton Lakes officer was arrested Thursday on charges that
he leaked secret information to the targets of a steroid ring
investigation, and authorities said he may have owed money to
one of the ring leaders for prescription pills.
But Officer Robert Joseph Palianto's attorney, Miles Feinstein, aggressively denied those charges and said Palianto
was a target because "he wouldn't lie" and "wasn't going to
testify against any other police officer."
Palianto, 29, of Pompton Lakes, is the fifth officer arrested
in connection with a probe of whether several officers tipped
off drug dealers that a countywide raid was coming. Those
cases are still pending, and prosecutors said they will
present evidence to a grand jury in late January.
Jay W. McCann, Passaic County chief assistant prosecutor, said
Palianto was caught on tape talking to Charles Post of Pompton
Lakes - an alleged ringleader - about owing him a "substantial
amount" of money for OxyContin pills, a prescription pain
reliever. McCann said Palianto referred to the pills as "80's"
a common name for 80-milligram OxyContin pills. He said
Palianto also revealed undercover information.
A sweep had been set for Aug. 9, 2004, after a three-month
probe, but because of the leak investigators were forced to
act hours earlier than planned, officials said. The
investigators arrested 19 North Jersey residents and
dismantled a large steroid ring, officials said. The network
allegedly peddled anabolic steroids, OxyContin, cocaine and
prescription medications.
The bust was the work of a joint narcotics task force made up
of county sheriff's officers, municipal police and
investigators from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office.
Officers from the Prosecutor's Office arrested Palianto at
6:30 a.m. Thursday at his home. He was suspended without pay
pending the investigation's outcome.
Palianto appeared in state Superior Court in Paterson hours
after his arrest, dressed in a gray sweat shirt, and entered
pleas of not guilty. Judge Marilyn C. Clark set his bail at
$50,000, and family members posted $5,000 cash bail
immediately.
"He may have used or sold the pills," McCann said in court.
"There was an ongoing relationship between Charles Post and
[Palianto]."
But an agitated Feinstein fired back, saying that the
Prosecutor's Office "made a deal with the devil and we welcome
cross-examining the devil."
Feinstein said the devil he referred to was Post, and that his
client had talked to prosecutors months ago.
"I thought this would be dealt with administratively ... but
the prosecutor chose to charge him," he said. "I don't believe
there's any proof that he tipped anybody off ... at least from
the meetings I was at."
Palianto joined the ranks of nearly two dozen borough officers
in August 2001.
He faces charges of conspiracy, hindering apprehension, and
official misconduct - which is the most serious charge against
him and could carry a penalty of five to 10 years in prison.
The arrests of officers from different municipalities and
agencies have sent shock waves through the law enforcement
community. Officers interviewed declined to speak on the
record but said they feared this could be a "witch hunt." They
pointed to August 2004 when prosecutors ordered 10 officers to
take drug tests after the leak was discovered. All tests came
back negative and none of those officers has been arrested.
But McCann pushed aside those claims, saying the Prosecutor's
Office has "acted very, very carefully," opting to wait
several months before making arrests to ensure that
authorities were "absolutely certain" of suspects.
Investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, he said, and
reviewed countless hours of wiretaps.
He said additional arrests are imminent.
So far through court testimony, the only other officer
arrested who is alleged to have had direct contact with
Charles Post was Passaic County Sheriff's Detective Cpl. Gerry
Ward, who allegedly helped Post swap his yellow Ferrari for
another car to elude police.
The alleged dealers arrested in the sweep, which targeted
street traffic and dealers out of World Gym in Wayne, are
facing charges in Superior Court in Paterson of possession,
possession with intent to distribute and operating a
controlled dangerous substance distribution network.
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6 New Jersey cops charged with protecting targets of drug probe
WAYNE PARRY
AP
Jul. 11, 2006
NEWARK, N.J. - Six police officers from northern New Jersey, including one now
living in North Carolina, were indicted Tuesday, accused of protecting targets
of a drug ring by tipping them off about imminent raids in return for some of
the drugs.
What began as a "social relationship" between the officers and their young
contemporaries, who would use small amount of drugs together, soon spiraled out
of control, authorities said.
"Several of the officers were engaging in some partying," said Passaic County
Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jay McCann. "It wasn't really a drug distribution for
profit. It was more of a social relationship between the officers and the
targets."
"The targets lived a high-profile lifestyle: They drove luxury vehicles and they
had boats, and they partied with the officers," McCann said. "Then it cascaded
from there."
The main drugs involved were the powerful painkiller OxyContin and the sleeping
pill Ambien.
Eventually, the officers realized their friends were being investigated for
drugs and decided to help them by tipping them off about impending raids or
investigations, McCann said.
The officers were arrested within the past 18 months.
Each officer has been suspended and faces arraignment in four to six weeks on
charges including conspiracy to commit official misconduct; conspiracy to
possess narcotics; official misconduct; witness tampering and hindering
apprehension.
Charged were: Passaic County Sheriff's Officer Gerry Ward, 46, whose current
address is in Gastonia, N.C.; Pompton Lakes officers Dennis DePrima, 30, Robert
J. Palianto, 29, and Michael Megna, 34; West Milford Officer Paul Kleiber, 26;
and West Paterson Officer Richard Beagin, 26. It could not immediately be
determined if the officers have hired lawyers.
The indictment also names seven others who were targeted in the drug probe,
which included dealing in cocaine, OxyContin and anabolic steroids.
McCann said the case came to light in August 2004 when it became apparent to
authorities that the targets of an ongoing drug investigation by a county's task
force had been tipped off about search and arrest warrants that were about to be
executed.
"There were communications intercepted on the wiretaps among the targets of the
narcotics investigation that made it clear that it had been compromised," he
said. "There was an intercept in which one person was making arrangements to get
narcotics out of his house."
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
