Freeholder's Brother Not Prosecuted

[OpenGovt]

The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Task Force and the Union County Watchdog Association are jointly asking the Westfield Mayor and Council to explain why a 17 year veteran of the Garwood Borough Police Department (and brother of a Union County Freeholder) was not prosecuted in Westfield Municipal Court after reportedly having been caught on videotape and formally charged with tampering with change machines in a laundromat and rifling through the desk drawers of Garwood Borough's Chief Financial Officer.

For more information, click here.

Update: I just obtained a copy of the settlement agreement between Garwood Borough and Mirabella today. It's on-line here.

The agreement does not require Mirabella to never serve in law enforcement again. In fact, the agreement does not require him to admit to having done anything wrong (para 3) and requires Garwood to advise any potential employers that Mirabella resigned in good standing (para 1b). Further, the agreement prevents Garwood from saying anything about Mirabella that could disparage him.

Update: As a result of an OPRA request, there is now a video of Mirabella ripping papers off a bulletin board and jamming them into two laundromat change machines. To view the video, click here.

John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey