West Deptford Cop Arrested For Official Misconduct: Prosecutor

WEST DEPTFORD, NJ — A West Deptford police officer is accused of filing a report with a false narrative to get a suspect referred to a drug clinic he had a financial interest in, as well as tampering with evidence, authorities said on Wednesday.

Thomas M. McWain, 30, is charged with official misconduct tampering with evidence and computer crime in connection with an alleged scheme to place an individual in a drug rehabilitation program in which he had a financial interest, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

He surrendered at the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday and was released pending a Dec. 21 court appearance in Superior Court Woodbury, according to authorities. McWain, an officer with the West Deptford Police Department since 2013, was initially suspended with pay on April 28 and was suspended without pay on Nov. 6.

McWain is accused of filing a police report containing a "false narrative" regarding a 2017 evidence seizure and arrest. He sought to refer "a subject with whom he had contact as a West Deptford Township police officer," to a drug rehabilitation center in which he had a financial interest, according to authorities.

The prosecutor’s office also said he accessed computerized criminal records without authorization in order to benefit someone else and deleted text messages asking someone to bring drugs to the scene of a traffic stop. He deleted the messages once he learned that he was the subject of an investigation, authorities said.

Patch file photo