Post by WaTcHeR on Feb 3, 2006 12:38:30 GMT -5
02/03/2006- NORTH BERGEN -- A local cop working an armed off-duty detail in a department store has been arrested on charges of committing the crime he is paid to prevent -- shoplifting.
Dennis Pinto, a 40-year-old North Bergen police officer, was arrested Tuesday and charged with shoplifting, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit official misconduct, authorities said.
A three-month investigation by the Internal Affairs Unit and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office determined that Pinto teamed up in November with a former officer fired from the job nine years ago to steal $1,860 worth of electronics from the North Commons Target on Tonnelle Avenue.
"We have clear evidence that there is a connection between Officer Pinto, who was working a security detail that day, and the ... [former] officer," Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Peter Stoma said Thursday.
The investigation, initiated by Target, began when Vincent Sorge, a former North Bergen police officer and former president of the township PBA, was caught by a surveillance camera on Nov. 5 stealing the merchandise, Stoma said.
A source close to the investigation said Sorge and Pinto were linked through store security video, as well as recorded phone conversations before and after the theft.
Pinto, a resident of South River, has been suspended from the force, authorities said. He remains free on bail pending grand jury action.
Township officials called Pinto's case that of "one bad apple" that doesn't reflect on the integrity of the 120-person department.
"We have 119 officers who are doing a great job and, unfortunately, it seems that one was acting illegally," Mayor Nicholas Sacco said. "Our police department discovered this, and it was our police department, in conjunction with the Prosecutor's Office, that investigated it."
In 1995, Sorge, then a township patrolman and president of the North Bergen Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, was convicted of simple assault and misconduct after attacking an undercover state trooper. He was fired in 1997.
Pinto, who had no previous record, was working security at the store in uniform, a coveted position, authorities said.
"They pay a good sum in an effort to establish a police presence," Stoma said of the Target assignment. "The assumption is that those who work these details are honest and perform their function with utmost integrity. We believe this is an isolated incident."
Dennis Pinto, a 40-year-old North Bergen police officer, was arrested Tuesday and charged with shoplifting, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit official misconduct, authorities said.
A three-month investigation by the Internal Affairs Unit and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office determined that Pinto teamed up in November with a former officer fired from the job nine years ago to steal $1,860 worth of electronics from the North Commons Target on Tonnelle Avenue.
"We have clear evidence that there is a connection between Officer Pinto, who was working a security detail that day, and the ... [former] officer," Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Peter Stoma said Thursday.
The investigation, initiated by Target, began when Vincent Sorge, a former North Bergen police officer and former president of the township PBA, was caught by a surveillance camera on Nov. 5 stealing the merchandise, Stoma said.
A source close to the investigation said Sorge and Pinto were linked through store security video, as well as recorded phone conversations before and after the theft.
Pinto, a resident of South River, has been suspended from the force, authorities said. He remains free on bail pending grand jury action.
Township officials called Pinto's case that of "one bad apple" that doesn't reflect on the integrity of the 120-person department.
"We have 119 officers who are doing a great job and, unfortunately, it seems that one was acting illegally," Mayor Nicholas Sacco said. "Our police department discovered this, and it was our police department, in conjunction with the Prosecutor's Office, that investigated it."
In 1995, Sorge, then a township patrolman and president of the North Bergen Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, was convicted of simple assault and misconduct after attacking an undercover state trooper. He was fired in 1997.
Pinto, who had no previous record, was working security at the store in uniform, a coveted position, authorities said.
"They pay a good sum in an effort to establish a police presence," Stoma said of the Target assignment. "The assumption is that those who work these details are honest and perform their function with utmost integrity. We believe this is an isolated incident."