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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a former New Jersey state
trooper pleaded guilty today to filing a
false police report regarding an incident
in which the trooper used force against
a motorist at an accident scene.
According
to Director Paw, John A. O’Neill,
38, of Verona, pleaded guilty to a charge
of tampering with a public record, a third-degree
crime, before Superior Court Judge Salem
Vincent Ahto in Morris County. As part of
the guilty plea, O’Neill was forced
to forfeit his job with the New Jersey State
Police and will be permanently excluded
from any public employment in New Jersey.
Judge Ahto admitted O’Neill into the
Pre-Trial Intervention program, which requires
him to complete a one-year period of probation.
His job forfeiture and exclusion from public
employment will not be affected by PTI.
O’Neill
pleaded guilty to an accusation charging
that he filed false information in a State
Police investigation report related to the
incident, which occurred in the early morning
hours of Sept. 30, 2006 on Interstate 287
Northbound near Exit 43 in Parsippany. O’Neill
admitted that he falsely wrote in the report
that when he arrived at the accident scene,
the motorist in question already had injuries
on his face. O’Neill admitted that
he filed the false information in order
to make the State Police believe that he
had not used force against the man in a
way that would require him to file a “Use
of Force Report” and trigger a further
review of the incident under mandatory departmental
procedures.
Deputy
Attorney General Marysol Rosero handled
the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal
Justice – Corruption Bureau. The case
was investigated by the Office of State Police Affairs, State Police Internal Affairs, and the
Division of Criminal Justice.
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