Police ‘Misconduct, Cover-up’ Brings Crowd That Questions Borough’s Governing Body

WILDWOOD CREST – On Feb. 18, the agenda for the Borough Commission meeting included usual items: operational ordinances, special events permit approvals, and requests for a dog park and memorial benches. However, this agenda was overshadowed by the 90-minute onslaught of presentations and rejoinders during the public comment period regarding ongoing legal wrangling that have been unleashed by allegations of police corruption and county cover-up.
The meeting attracted a number of former borough employees, family members of police officer Mike Hawthorne, whose allegations are central to the lawsuits, as well as print media representatives and several others taping the proceedings.
To summarize what has brought such acrimony to Wildwood Crest, on Dec. 11 state Superior Court Judge Nelson Johnson, sitting in Atlantic City, heard arguments regarding the OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request of John Paff, a self-described “public rights advocate” and also chairman of the N.J. Libertarian Party, presented by his attorney Richard Gutman.
Paff, who lives in Somerset, is suing for the release of four letters Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor wrote to Wildwood Crest Mayor Carl Groon April 15, 2014. These letters are termed “pre-Brady” warnings from a U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland (1963 holding that suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused who has requested it violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or punishment irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.)
The letters are thought to indicate that two senior-ranking Wildwood Crest police officers, Capt. David Mayer and Lt. Mike Hawthorne, were the subjects of the content. Mayer retired May 1, shortly after issuance of the prosecutor’s letters and Hawthorne retired Feb. 1.
Although not a named party to the litigation to release these letters, Hawthorne has been explicit as to his position on the matter when he said in December 2014, “I am proud of the job I have done for the citizens of Wildwood Crest. I saw wrongdoing by a superior and I reported it. I am totally in favor of having these letters made public which will inform the taxpayers of what is a systematic cover-up of misconduct and I have so stated publicly on several occasions including in court.”
Taylor and Groon refuse to release the letters, saying they are not public records. To further its own internal investigation, Wildwood Crest hired a special investigator, former N.J. State Police detective James Fallon, whose report contains interviews with police subordinates within the Wildwood Crest Police Department and local business owners.
While nothing radically new was revealed during the public comment period, Hawthorne, during his lengthy presentation, stated at the outset, “I served 25 years as a Crest police officer, have lived in the borough 40 years and viewed and recorded numerous instances of theft of time, electronics and computers which I made known to the borough, which fell on deaf ears.”
Hawthorne maintains that his “whistleblower” status should have been protected by allowing him to introduce his evidence to the state Attorney General rather than the County Prosecutor.
Directly addressing the mayor, who serves as commissioner of Public Safety, Hawthorne said “Three senior police administrators are gone because of the sinking ship you have caused. The prosecutor is your friend and will protect you and I knew I was a dead man and my career finished once I was forced to give my findings including as an IA (Internal Affairs) officer to Taylor rather than the AG.”
Borough Solicitor Doreen Corino answered, “There have been no criminal charges filed, no criminal proceedings started, so there is nothing to be disclosed. The mayor has the discretion to turn this type of allegation over to either the Attorney General or the prosecutor that was his legal choice. In fact, we welcome total disclosure of all facts in this case and will follow whatever Judge Johnson decides when he makes his ruling. There are many other things to be revealed about this borough, a whole lot to let out.”
“You are only giving tidbits of information that support your one-sided, slanted view,” said Diana Gant Brunell, a retired Wildwood Crest police dispatcher and retired lifetime member of the borough’s volunteer Ambulance Corps, addressing Corino.
Another Wildwood Crest police officer, Tom Hunt, also spoke to commission, saying, “I am the future of Mike Hawthorne,” (i.e. that he also was forced to retire for similar reasons five years ago).” He echoed the statements of Hawthorne and Brunell by noting, “You, mayor, have caused the change from the ‘Crest is the Best’ motto for our police force to the fact that no one wants to work here.”
When Hunt then queried commission members as to whether any had read the Fallon report, Groon said he had read parts. Commissioner Don Cabrera said no, he had not. Commissioner Joyce Gould said, “I’ve only read the parts that were leaked to Spout Off, and since you get what you pay for, and that paper is free, that’s why I will not allow it in the building and told them to come and take out their boxes.”
Hunt then asked the gathered public to recognize Hawthorne’s service which they did with sustained applause and they also punctuated Brunell’s and Hunt’s remarks with vocal assents.
There is no indication yet as to when Johnson will hand down his decision as to if and when the pre-Brady letters in question as well as other supporting documents will be made public.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.