Piscataway Police Chief Named In 2nd Harassment Lawsuit

PISCATAWAY, NJ — Last Thursday, March 10 a female Piscataway Police lieutenant filed a lawsuit against Police Chief Thomas Mosier.

The woman making the claim is Lt. Constance “Connie” Crea. In the civil suit, she said the police chief singled her out for demotions and discrimination because she is a lesbian woman, and that Mosier often targeted or mocked lesbian police officers on that force.

Crea is actually the second Piscataway police officer to sue Chief Mosier this year: Last month, Piscataway Police Officer Alan Barboiu similarly filed a civil suit naming Mosier, alleging the police chief teased and harassed him because he is from another country (he was born in Romania).

In the two lawsuits, filed separate and apart from each other, both Crea and Barboiu said Mosier was notorious for one particular act:

"Grabbing his genitals and rubbing them while making sexual moaning sounds in self-gratification," which Barboui said the Police Chief did to tease and mock him, and which Crea said Mosier did when certain women walked past his office.

Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler appointed Mosier to be chief.

When asked for a response to the lawsuit, or if Mosier had a response, Piscataway town spokesman Gene Wilk said the town has asked the Middlesex County Prosecutor to investigate Crea's claims.

“Chief Mosier has a 33-year record of outstanding service to the Piscataway community and the Piscataway Police Department," said Wilk. "Nonetheless, we take all allegations of this nature seriously and we will follow proper procedures and refer this matter to Middlesex County for an Internal Affairs investigation.”

Lieutenant said Chief Mosier singled out, mocked lesbian police officers

In her suit, Crea said Mosier has made comments against gays and lesbians in general.

She said at one point Mosier made a comment to another officer, stating that he thinks a third police officer was “light in the loafers,” a disparaging term for a homosexual. She also said he publicly shamed another lesbian police officer, including ridiculing the woman over the police radio. He also used to highlight errors in that officer's police reports in red ink and humiliated her for it during roll call.

Crea said Mosier also told her once to "doll herself up."

Crea said Mosier never treated other heterosexual Piscataway police officers this way, whether they were men or women.

Instead, she said he told a female police officer he only wanted her in the highly sought-after Traffic Division "to stare at her in her yoga pants." He also refused to send a second female police officer out to respond to emergency calls, and would send male officers instead, saying she was "too pretty to go," Crea alleged.

She also said when a third Piscataway female police officer, who happened to be a lesbian, died of cancer, Mosier mocked the idea of presenting the American flag to her surviving wife. During a practice for the Honor Guard flag presentation ceremony, Mosier said he would be the “ugly wife" and that he watched as the now-retired Piscataway police chief before him made a "cop a feel" sexual gesture while pretending to present the American flag.

Crea also said Mosier never disciplined a fellow officer for using the term “towelhead” (a derogatory term for Arab) and that Mosier took her off the Domestic Violence Task Force without explanation, which was an assignment she found to be extremely rewarding.

Crea said she was "devastated" to be taken off the Domestic Violence Task Force and that she "cannot please the Chief no matter what she does."

Barboiu filed his lawsuit against Mosier in February of this year

Barboiu said he was then told by another officer that "Sgt. Thomas Mosier hates him, and then warned (him) to be careful around Mosier because he is vindictive and malicious. Plaintiff also began hearing rumors that Mosier does not like minorities."

On February 15, 2012, while changing in the locker room at the beginning of his shift, Barboiu said he asked then-Lt. Mosier if he could take time off. He said Lt. Mosier replied by mocking him and "repeating his words with an 'accent' as to ridicule him and shouted DENIED!" He said Mosier stated, "I may grant it if I can understand what the f- you're saying."

Then in March of 2013, Barboiu said he was told by his supervisor that Mosier "wants you out" and that he is "watching you."

"It is also noteworthy that during this time period, with Lt. Mosier as watch commander, Mosier would say to Plaintiff as he walked in, 'Hey Alan' and grab his penis in a sexual manner while making sexual sounds like moaning," according to the lawsuit.

Again in the locker room, this time in July of 2015, Barboiu said Mosier said "you damn foreigner," made fun of the way he spoke and later walked by his desk and shouted "Loser!" at him.

Claims now made by a police lieutenant and a patrolman

As lieutenant, Crea is fairly high ranking in the department.

Barboui is a patrol officer. Town spokesman Wilk also pointed out that he was recently suspended for 45 days without pay after he was brought up on disciplinary charges for insubordination and inappropriate physical touching of a female Piscataway employee. That was in November. (Barboui said in his lawsuit the entire thing was a set-up and an attempted firing initiated by Mosier.)

"Officer Barboiu was offered an administrative hearing, which he declined, instead choosing to file suit in Superior Court," said Wilk. "As a result of the disciplinary charges which were supported by an Internal Affairs department investigation, Officer Barboiu was suspended for 45 days without pay."

He was reinstated to the force in January. Both he and Crea are currently on the Piscataway police force, as is Chief Mosier.

Mosier was elected to the Piscataway Board of Education from 2008 to 2015, New Brunswick Today reported. He sought re-election to the board, under the banner “Return Common Sense to the Piscataway Board of Education” in 2017, but lost.

Mosier's wife also works as chief of staff to Piscataway state Senator Bob Smith, a Democrat.

New Brunswick Today also has a copy of Crea's lawsuit posted, which you can read for yourself: Police Chief Slammed With Discrimination Lawsuits From His Own Officers

First Patch report on Piscataway Police Chief Thomas Mosier: Piscataway Police Chief Sued By Officer, Alleging Discrimination (Feb. 15, 2022)

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