Island Heights Detective Lied About Having Gun He Was Ordered To Turn Over: Prosecutor

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An Island Heights police detective has been suspended from his job and charged with filing a false report and illegal weapons possession after authorities learned he lied about turning over all of his handguns, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Matthew Curtis, 47, of Little Egg Harbor Township, was charged Monday with providing a false report to law enforcement authorities, contempt of a judicial or protective order, and being a certain person prohibited from possessing a weapon, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Curtis had been ordered to surrender to law enforcement any guns that he owned or possessed under a temporary restraining order issued against him on May 11, 2022, in connection with a domestic violence investigation, Billhimer said.

Curtis surrendered several weapons on May 11, and on May 13, 2022, Curtis wrote and signed a letter saying he had sold three handguns registered to him prior to the issuance of the TRO, and said he no longer owned them, Billhimer said.

A subsequent weapons trace by the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicated Curtis was still the registered owner of those handguns, Billhimer said.

On Dec. 11, 2022, Curtis filed a report with the Little Egg Harbor Police Department saying three handguns were stolen from his unlocked personal vehicle in front of his home.

The investigation showed one of the handguns he said was stolen was among the three he claimed to have sold before the temporary restraining order was issued, Billhimer said.

The firearm Curtis first claimed to have sold and later claimed was stolen was later recovered from a defendant accused of stealing a motor vehicle and eluding in Essex County, Billhimer said.

Curtis was processed at the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, Billhimer said, and released on a summons pending a future court appearance.

Curtis also has been suspended with pay from his position with the Island Heights Police Department, Billhimer said.

Billhimer said the Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards Unit and Domestic Violence/Weapons Squad, the Little Egg Harbor Police Department, and U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated.