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TRENTON
– An Egg Harbor Township police officer
pleaded guilty today to official misconduct
for having sex with a prostitute while on
duty, Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced.
Patrolman
Richard Cavanaugh, 45, of Egg Harbor Township,
pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree
official misconduct before Superior Court
Judge Albert J. Garofolo in Atlantic County.
Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that he be sentenced to a term of probation
of up to five years.
Cavanaugh
forfeited his job today. He must also forfeit
the pension he accrued in 23 years in law
enforcement, and he will be permanently barred
from holding public employment in New Jersey.
In
pleading guilty, Cavanaugh admitted that in
December 2007, while on duty as a township
police officer, he had a prostitute perform
a sex act on him in a hotel on the Black Horse
Pike in Egg Harbor Township. He was in uniform
and drove to the hotel in a marked police
car.
Judge
Garofolo scheduled sentencing for Cavanaugh
for May 29.
Cavanaugh
has been suspended without pay from his job
as a patrolman since October 2008 because
of the pending investigation.
Deputy
Attorneys General Robert Czepiel Jr. and Peter
W. Lee handled the case, and Deputy Attorney
General Czepiel took today’s guilty
plea for the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau. The case was investigated
by the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption
Bureau, Southern Region.
Attorney
General Milgram thanked Egg Harbor Township
Police Chief Blaze Catinia for the cooperation
of his department during the investigation
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