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

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ — Two Mountainside police officers, including one who was named "Cop of the Year" in 2014, have been placed on administrative leave after an explosive lawsuit was filed by several of their coworkers accusing them of crude misconduct going back decades.

Five Mountainside police officers and a dispatcher filed the 46-page lawsuit against the police department, alleging a hostile work environment was caused by the actions of officers Andrew Huber and Thomas Murphy.

The lawsuit was filed last week by Christopher Feighner, Richard Latargia, Thomas Norton, Jeffrey Stinner, and James Urban, as well as a part-time employee, Amy Colineri. It alleges the department was a "hostile work environment" in 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. It further states that the chief at the time, James Debbie, knew of this activity and took no corrective action.

In May 2016, Huber allegedly chased Mountainside Fire Chief Anthony Pecorelli around police headquarters with Big Blue; Police Chief Allan Attanasio shouted "get him" and "put it in his mouth" while Murphy recorded it, according to the lawsuit.

A video of Huber smacking a dispatcher with the dildo was obtained by NJ.com. You can see it here.

The lawsuit claims Murphy would ram his flashlight in other officers' rear areas, and that he also exposed his testicles, even putting them on other officers' food and drinks. He would take photographs of his testicles on other people's objects in the department, the lawsuit says.

Murphy also allegedly made inappropriate comments to Colineri, including that he wanted to impregnate her and that he could "help" her have a baby, according to the complaint. In another instance, he allegedly asked her where she lived so he could look in her windows. He made repeated comments about wanting to see her in a bathing suit, the complaint says.

The inappropriate conduct went beyond crude sexual behaviors, according to the lawsuit.

In 2011, Huber and then-Lt. Chief Allan Attanasio, 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.

Mountainside Police administration was made aware of that incident, but nothing was done to either Huber or Attanasio, the complaint states.

Further, until about 2013, Huber allegedly forwarded pornographic, racial and racist emails from his Mountainside Police Department email account to other department officers, including current chief Attanasio, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit goes on to say that "corruption is strongly rooted in Mountainside and internal complaints to the mayor, borough council and administrator would not be effectively and appropriately addressed."

Mountainside Borough issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, saying the fact the pair were placed on administrative leave "is not in any way designed to lend any credence to any of the allegations made in the complaint."

Charles Sciarra of Sciarra & Catrambone, who represents the officers who filed the lawsuit, noted the borough officials relationship to the officers accused in the lawsuit by pointing to a Mountainside Council meeting on Jan 17, 2017. At the meeting, Westfield lawyer Joshua McMahon tried to address Mayor Paul Mirabelli about the allegations but was shut down. The meeting quickly got heated.

The altercation is seen in this video around the 10:30 minute mark:

“The mayor, borough administrator and council have been aware of these issues for nearly a year and a half because I publicly brought the evidence to their attention," McMahon said. "They collectively chose to turn a blind eye. To feign ignorance now shows a total lack of respect for the Mountainside residents who can simply watch the video from my appearance before the council last year and judge for themselves if the mayor and administrator are being honest or simply scrambling to save their jobs.”

"I have no 'special relationship' with Officer Huber or Officer Murphy which would cause me to in any way hinder any investigations of internal affairs complaints or which would cause me take any steps to make sure that such complaints were not effectively or appropriately addressed," Mayor Mirabelli said in a statement.

Mirabelli goes on to state that the borough had hired an independent attorney William Maderer Esq., a former Assistant United States Attorney, to conduct an investigation of any allegations and the information was provided to the Union County Prosecutor's Office.

Mirabelli also says the borough's attorneys "also attempted to obtain interviews with all of the officers and the one female employee about the allegations. Unfortunately, these interviews did not take place because the attorney for the complainants failed to respond."

"I will do everything I can to ensure that both the February 28 allegations and the new allegations in the Complaint, most of which I was unaware of, are fully and thoroughly investigated, and that any improper conduct that is proven will be fully, effectively and appropriately addressed, no matter who was involved," Mirabelli said.

Attempts to reach Huber and Murphy were not immediately successful. Chief Attanasio has not yet returned Patch's request for comment.

The borough, in a statement, said it will continue a thorough investigation of all the allegations.

"The Prosecutor's Office does not confirm nor deny details about investigations of this nature," Mark Spivey with the Union Prosecutor's Office stated.

See the full lawsuit below:

(Image via Shutterstock)

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