Secaucus Man Charged With Anti-Gay Harassment At Church: See Footage Of His Arrest

SECAUCUS, NJ — Someone filed an Open Public Records Act request and received the police body camera footage of the March 8 arrest of Secaucus resident Alfred "Alfredo" Viggiano.

This was when Viggiano, 73, was charged with bias intimidation and harassment of two parishioners at the Episcopal Church of Our Savior.

Secaucus Police say he harassed two men inside the church, and made derogatory comments about the men's sexual orientation. The men called 911.

Viggiano was scheduled to have his first court appearance Tuesday, April 7 in Hudson County Superior Court, but the court date was postponed to April 20, at the request of his defense attorney.

The police body camera footage was published on a YouTube channel called Blue Line Lens, and it is about 35 minutes long. You can watch it here.

In the video, Viggiano approached the police officer as he pulls up to the church. He said the following, in part:

"About six months ago, they (referring to the church) had this gay flag up. And then they had a lot of nonsense about Donald Trump. So they took it down and now it's back up. So I asked them why don't you have an American flag up? See, the American flag gives them the right to put that flag up."

"Are we on the same page?" Viggiano asks the officer. "My First Amendment right is to ask them why don't they have an American flag up. Because the American flag lets them do what they want to do."

Alfredo then showed the police officer a scarf with an American flag pattern on it, and said he "tried to hand it" to the men.

"I'm an American. I'm a Secaucus senior citizen," Viggiano continues. "I don't want to see that (referring to the rainbow LGBTQ+ flag hanging outside the church). Now, you can put it up. I have no right to tell them to take it down. But I do feel I have a right to tell them to put an American flag up also ... Am I making any sense? Did I break a law?"

"I don't know exactly what you did here," the officer responds, in part.

The police officer then instructs Viggiano to wait by his car, and speaks with the two men standing on the church steps.

"We go to the church," one said. "We had the door open and he came up and basically stormed in with an American flag and said 'We don't want you gays here, can you take that down,' and blah blah blah. I have it on film, I can show you. I tried to close the door and he kind of put his hand — I'll show you the video, I can't explain it."

The man said he does not feel safe remaining at the church.

The police officer again tells Viggiano to remain by his car away from the church and the two men. Viggiano then shouts out: "I am willing to apologize for the (unintelligible) slur."

A second and then a third Secaucus Police officer show up. The men show the police officers the video they took of their encounter with Viggiano.

At various points in the video, Viggiano appears to be heard saying "I get upset talking to queers" and also: "You're about to lose your f— teeth."

Later in the video, Rev. Fletcher Harper, pastor of the church, arrives. The men tell Harper what occurred.

Harper said last September someone put hand-written signs outside the Episcopal church, saying the church should fly the American flag. And someone also left an Evangelical bible on the front steps of the church.

"He's done stuff with signs in the past," the officer said, referring to Viggiano.

"This stuff happens with liberal churches, but it's just ridiculous," Harper says, in part, to the police officer. "What I worry about is so many people have guns. It's just insane."

At various points during the 35-minute video, the police officer tells Harper and the two men that Viggiano "is known" by police in town.

The officer then tells the reverend and the men the police have to determine if a bias crime occurred, and his supervisor had to call a detective to ask what exact law was broken.

The police officer then walks back over to Viggiano and says to him: "It's a bias incident. You knew that ... I'm sure you knew that. What you said to them."

Viggiano is then placed under arrest and put into handcuffs. He was taken to the Hudson County Jail.

First report on this incident: Man Charged With Bias Intimidation At Secaucus Church (March 9)

This is not Viggiano's first arrest:

In 2023, he was similarly charged with bias intimidation and harassment at the Dunkin' Donuts on Paterson Plank Road. In that instance, he was charged with intimidating people based on their ethnicity.

In 2022, during the COVID pandemic, he yelled racial slurs at an Asian man and woman while they were walking on Riverside Station Boulevard. He told them “take off your masks and go back to your country," said police.

In 2021, he was arrested and accused of threatening an employee at the Hudson Wine store on Roosevelt Avenue with a knife, NJ.com reported.