Mountainside Candidates Call For Investigation Into 'Corruption'

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ — Mountainside candidates for Borough Council Anjali Mehrotra and Ileana Montes have called for a thorough independent investigation after an explosive lawsuit was filed by borough police officers accusing coworkers of crude misconduct going back decades.

"This investigation must look into the role Mayor Paul Mirabelli’s Administration and the rest of Mountainside’s Borough Council may have played in creating what seems to have become a culture of corruption in Borough Hall, allowing this behavior to take place and then covering it up until a costly lawsuit brought the activity out into the open," according to the candidate's release.

Mehrotra and Montes sent a letter to the Mountainside Mayor and Council claiming they believe there is a culture of corruption that has come to permeate all branches of Borough Hall.

Mayor Paul Mirabelli said the actions by Mehrotra and Montes "is simply political posturing."

"I understand this topic greatly concerns our residents, but trying to catch the Council is a political 'gotcha moment' will only harm the very people these candidates are trying to represent," Mirabelli told Patch. "It is in the best interest of the Borough that the Council follows the advice of our attorneys and keep our comments to a minimum at this time."

Additionally during Monday's council meeting Mirabelli updated the public on the current lawsuit.

Mirabelli said the borough has filed disciplinary charges against Lt. Thomas Murphy and he has been suspended without pay, effective July 13. This decision was the result of the review conducted by former Assistant U. S. Attorney William Maderer.

Chief Allan Attanasio and Detective Sgt. Andrew Huber have also filed their retirement papers with the State pension board and were removed from the borough’s payroll effective July 20. Any decision regarding their pension rests with the State pension board and is outside the Borough’s jurisdiction, according to Mirabelli.

The lawsuit alleges that created a "hostile work environment" in the police department which Huber and Murphy would throw around sex toys, abuse people in sexual ways, and expose themselves.

According to the lawsuit, Huber had a dildo he named "Big Blue" that he kept in a filing cabinet. Huber would wave it around and throw it at people, the lawsuit alleges.

Chief Allan Attanasio is also named in the lawsuit and accused of in 2011, where he and Huber, made a false report of an "officer in need of assistance" in which they claimed a Mountainside Police Officer was trapped and cornered in the basement of a Scotch Plains bar. When Berkeley Heights Police arrived, Huber used his universal key to unlock and steal the police car.

Additionally, Lt. Joseph Giannuzzi reports that the department is functioning well and that the officers are attending to all matters as required. He has been meeting with Joseph Santiago and his firm to discuss police department operations, according to Mirabelli.

See Related: NJ 'Cop Of The Year' Harassed Coworkers With Dildo: Lawsuit

Related: Mountainside Police Chief Put On Leave After Explosive Lawsuit

(Image via Shutterstock)

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