Edison fires cop accused of pressing woman for lingerie show
October 8, 2015 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
EDISON — Rejecting a neutral party’s stinging criticism of its Internal Affairs investigation, the township has fired an Edison police officer who was accused of pressuring a woman to model lingerie for him while he was in uniform.
Anthony Sarni will sue to get his job back, his lawyer said, and he is confident in his chances of victory.
“For political reasons, not legal reasons, they’ve decided to fire him,” attorney Steven Cahn said in an interview in his office Wednesday after learning of the decision, which came down that morning in a tersely worded letter from Mayor Thomas Lankey. “But all that costs money. They’re going to pay a lawyer, and they’re going to pay me, and they’re going to have to pay him.”
Lankey, however, said the township was prepared to defend his decision.
“Allegations against this police officer are so egregious and the evidence so persuasive that I cannot in good conscience abide by the hearing officer’s decision,” Lankey, who is also the town’s public safety director, said in an emailed statement. “His actions are reprehensible for a sworn officer.”
According to Internal Affairs documents, Sarni admitted that he went back to a woman’s hotel room while he was off duty and still in uniform, where she modeled lingerie for him. (Earlier that night, when on duty, he was in the woman’s hotel room when someone sprayed a fire extinguisher under her door.) He denied, however, that he explicitly propositioned her for sex, despite the woman’s claim to the contrary. What happened between them was consensual, he has argued.
MORE: Edison cop craved private lingerie show by hotel guest, new documents reveal
The incident occurred in September 2012; the woman filed a complaint about a month later after he sent her a text message.
The Internal Affairs interview transcripts portrays an officer’s calculated pursuit not of a criminal, but of a victim. The hearing officer’s decision, in contrast, portrays the town’s frequent missteps in its bungled effort to fire him. Among other issues, the hearing officer said the town missed well established deadlines, couldn’t prove parts of its case anyway, and that investigators “severely compromised” the Internal Affairs interview — then misled the hearing officer about it.
“It is ironic that Officer Sarni was charged with being untruthful after being interviewed by an Internal Affairs superior officer whose testimony under oath was disingenuous in more than one instance,” wrote the hearing officer, Michael D’Anton, in reference to Captain Joseph Shannon.
“I find that Captain Shannon’s sworn testimony lacked credibility,” D’Anton also wrote in a decision that was issued Tuesday.
In one instance, during the Internal Affairs interview, Shannon thanked Sarni for being truthful, according to the transcript — a key element of the case, because Sarni was charged with lying to investigators. Shannon told the hearing officer he only said that because Sarni was distraught.
Sarni’s attorneys cast doubt on the assertion, arguing that his gun was never confiscated, and that he wasn’t sent home, as Shannon had claimed.
Shannon also said he spoke beyond the reach of audio recording with Sarni that the proceedings were administrative, not criminal — another subtle but key point, owing to due process concerns. But the hearing officer did not believe that.
Police Chief Thomas Bryan said in a statement: “I have full faith in Captain Shannon and the Internal Affairs personnel who were involved in this investigation. Sarni’s reprehensible behavior, which he admitted to, makes him unfit to maintain the public trust as a sworn police officer. Termination was the only option and the Police Department will work with the Lankey’s Administration to sustain the termination.”
After an internal hearing, akin to a trial, D’Anton ruled that Sarni was honest as soon as it was clear that he was in administrative trouble, not legal trouble. The town tried to fire him on the basis that he lied to IA investigators.
“Moreover, I find that the questions posed to Officer Sarni were confusing, compounded, poorly worded and geared towards causing one to be unable to respond truthfully since they contained double negatives,” D’Anton wrote.
The township’s attorneys and Sarni’s attorneys have disputed whether the town must follow the hearing officer’s recommendation. Cahn said that they’re bound by it, citing a statute about reinstatement of police officers.
Sarni has been suspended with $120,000 pay for two years. He will stop getting his paychecks, and his family health insurance, until he can file an emergency appeal.
“After a very big moral and legal decision I finally had some vindicating news for my family,” Sarni said in a written statement. “Less than 24 hours after telling my parents the great news and hearing them cry with happiness and joy I had to erase the short lived, well deserved, much anticipated excitement with the unfair politically motivated move of firing me. I’m very sad and hurt. I’m very sad for my parents, my family and very sad for my children who are unknowingly going to suffer.”
Business Administrator Maureen Ruane said the town “vehemently disagrees” with D’Anton’s decision.
“While Mr. Sarni feels compelled to defend himself in the media, the Township intends to fully defend this termination in the judicial system,” Ruane added in a statement.
Bryan, the police chief, said the Lankey administration and the command staff has been working to improve things in the always-turbulent Edison Police Department.
“Anything less than termination in this case would be counterproductive to our efforts,” Bryan said.
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Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
