10 Years For NJ Cop Who Ran Meth Lab From Home

LONG BRANCH, NJ — The former Long Branch police officer who was caught making methamphetamine in the basement of his home was sentenced Friday to 10 years in state prison, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor.

The former police officer is Christopher Walls, 50. As part of a plea deal, Walls also permanently forfeited his right to hold public office or hold a taxpayer job, as well as his guns and firearms ID card.

As Patch previously reported, Walls pleaded guilty last November to second-degree causing a risk of widespread injury and third-degree manufacturing CDS (methamphetamine). He was arrested in May of 2021.

Long Branch Police were first called to Walls' home on the 300 block of West End Avenue at about 10:36 p.m. on May 15, 2021 for a 911 call of a domestic disturbance.

While officers were on the scene, another resident in the home told them Walls was involved in suspicious narcotics activity. The State Police Hazmat unit was then called in and located materials, chemicals and instruments consistent with a meth lab in both the home's basement and in a shed out back.

Walls said he was actually inspired by the cult hit show "Breaking Bad," according to the Asbury Park Press.

State Police said Walls was in possession of all the ingredients necessary to manufacture methamphetamine and said they also found methamphetamine residue in chemistry-related glassware on site.

Walls also owned books related to making methamphetamine, explosives and poison. Lab tests later confirmed that methamphetamine was in fact made in the home.

Walls was criminally charged and taken into custody that same night. When he was first arrested, the Long Branch Police Department immediately suspended Walls without pay.

At the time, Walls was a 19-year veteran of the Long Branch Police force and made a salary of $125,531 per year, the APP reported.

His Long Branch neighbors told CBS they were "stunned" to hear he was operating a meth lab out of his home.

"When he was off duty, I would say he was always in the garage and working alone," neighbor Joao DosSantos told CBS News when he was first arrested. "Sometimes there were boxes going in and coming out."

"It is disappointing beyond measure that one of our officers could have risked the safety of his family and neighbors by engaging in such dangerous conduct," said Long Branch acting Police Chief Frank Rizzuto at the time.

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