NEWARK
– Acting Attorney General Anne Milgram
and Division of Criminal Justice Director
Gregory A. Paw announced that a former Newark
police officer has pleaded guilty to charges
that she sold cocaine out of her house in
Newark and hindered law enforcement efforts
to arrest her boyfriend, who also was dealing
narcotics.
Brandy
Johnson, 30, who was a Newark police officer
from 1999 until her arrest in July 2004,
pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon before
Superior Court Judge Joseph V. Isabella
in Essex County to two counts of second-degree
official misconduct and one count of second-degree
distribution of cocaine. Those charges were
contained in two separate state grand jury
indictments obtained by the Division of
Criminal Justice.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Johnson receive a sentence of seven
years in state prison. Sentencing is scheduled
for Jan. 5, 2007 before Judge Isabella.
"This
defendant took an oath to protect the public
as a Newark police officer, and instead
she endangered the community by dealing
narcotics," said Acting Attorney General
Milgram. "We will continue to work
with the Newark Police Department to root
out corruption in the force and vigorously
prosecute those who violate the law and
the public trust."
Johnson
was charged as the result of a joint investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice and
the Newark Police Department.
During
the plea hearing, Johnson admitted that
on April 20, 2004, she sold approximately
11 grams of cocaine for $400 to an undercover
state investigator from her house on Tuxedo
Parkway in Newark. Johnson also admitted
to being an accomplice in a second drug
sale made by her boyfriend, Khalid Onion,
32, of Newark.
Onion
sold about 29 grams of cocaine for $1,200
to an undercover investigator on April 28,
2004 near the corner of Baldwin and Clinton
Avenues in Newark. That drug deal was the
basis for Johnson’s guilty pleas to
the distribution charge and one of the counts
of official misconduct.
The
second official misconduct charge stems
from Johnson’s conduct after her arrest,
when she lied to investigators about the
whereabouts of Onion and hid him in her
house. Investigators searched Johnson’s
house on Aug. 29, 2004 and found Onion in
the attic. Johnson also was indicted on
charges related to her attempt to negotiate
the illegal sale of a handgun to an undercover
officer.
Onion
pleaded guilty on May 22, 2005 to charges
of distributing cocaine and conspiracy,
both in the second degree. The state will
recommend a six-year state prison term at
his sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct.
13.
Deputy
Attorney General Marysol Rosero prosecuted
the case for the Division of Criminal Justice.
The Division’s investigation was led
by State Investigator Christian Harden with
assistance from State Investigators Cecil
Boone and Thomas Page and other state investigators
from the Major Crimes Bureau, Narcotics
North Unit.
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