NJ Police Chief Lied To FBI, Committed Other Alleged Crimes: Feds

NEW JERSEY – A New Jersey police chief is no longer on the job after lying to the FBI, according to the authorities. He's also accused of a variety of other crimes, and he's been accused of making racist statements.

Frank M. Nucera Jr., 62, of Bordentown made false statements to FBI agents who were interviewing him about an arrest, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office release.

Nucera was also charged with one count of hate crime assault and one count of deprivation of civil rights under color of law; the jury was expected to return to court this week to continue deliberating on those counts.

Nucera, formerly the chief of the Bordentown Township Police Department, was convicted this week of lying to FBI agents who were questioning him about violating an 18-year-old man’s civil rights during an arrest, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

On Sept. 1, 2016, two Bordentown Township police officers responded to a phone call from the Bordentown Ramada, complaining that two teenagers had stayed in a room at the hotel without paying, according to the release.

The teens were listed in the complaint as “Civilian 1,” an 18-year-old African American teenager, and “Civilian 2,” a 16-year-old African American girl, the release said.

After the officers arrived and questioned the teenagers, the situation allegedly escalated into a physical confrontation, with both teens attempting to resist arrest. The officers called for backup, and numerous officers, including then-Chief Nucera, arrived on the scene, according to the release.

After Civilian 1 was handcuffed and was being escorted out of the hotel by police, Nucera allegedly approached him from behind and slammed the man’s head into a metal doorjamb, according to the release.

During a video recorded interview by FBI special agents, Nucera falsely stated multiple times that he did not touch Civilian 1 during the arrest.

Nucera has had a long history of facing accusations of bias. Bordentown Township Police Sgt. Nathan Roohr began secretly recording Nucera back in 2015, providing over 100 hours of recordings to the FBI as part of the investigation, according to nj.com.

The recordings allegedly include numerous racial slurs Nucera has reportedly made over the years.

One complaint chronicled past incidents in which Nucera enlisted the use of police dogs to intimidate African Americans, including at high school basketball games. In 2016, he allegedly told an officer to walk a K-9 through an apartment building in order to intimidate the African Americans who lived there.

Nucera served as Bordentown Police Chief and Township Administrator before he abruptly retired in 2016.

His sudden resignation came after the Attorney General's Office was told by federal authorities that he was under investigation, according to the Courier Post. He made $151,418.31 per year, and has an annual pension of $105,992.76, according to nj.com. He receives $8,832.73 per month.