*News
Release* Date: October 11, 2011
Bruce
Middlesex
County Prosecutor’s Office
Police sergeant charged with tampering;
obstruction
Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J.
Kaplan and New Brunswick Police Director Anthony A. Caputo announced that a
criminal complaint was signed today charging a former
Richard Rowe (DOB: 11/17/67) was
suspended on March 21, 2011, without pay after the New Brunswick Police
Department discovered that internal affairs files, to which he was assigned,
were missing.
Following the discovery of the
missing internal affairs files that were entered in the records of the New
Brunswick Police Department as investigated and/or closed by Rowe, the
Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the state Office of the Attorney
General were notified and an audit was immediately commenced by the New
Brunswick Police Department.
All internal affairs complaints
handled by the New Brunswick Police Department during that time period, and not
just those handled by Rowe, were reviewed. Any incident where the file was
missing, had not been investigated, and/or deemed not properly investigated,
was re-opened and re-investigated to completion.
The New Brunswick Police Department also implemented changes to its internal
procedures to better ensure oversight and accuracy and to further safeguard
record-keeping while maintaining the integrity of investigations.
Despite these safeguards, and in the hope of promoting public
confidence, the New Brunswick Police Department has now requested increased
oversight of its Internal Affairs Division by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s
Office.
In response, Prosecutor Kaplan announced today that the New Brunswick
Police Department will notify the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office whenever
internal affairs complaints are filed. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office
will review each investigation and proposed findings of the New Brunswick
Police Department before each case can be closed.
After a lengthy criminal investigation, the New Brunswick Police
Department charged Rowe with two crimes: (1) Tampering with Public Records or
Information, a third-degree crime; and (2) Obstructing the Administration of
Law or Other Governmental Function, a fourth-degree crime.
Rowe, who began working as a city police officer on August 20, 1990,
was earning $123,202 annually when he was suspended without pay. Rowe was
assigned to the Internal Affairs Division from September 23, 2002, to March 17,
2008. He subsequently resigned on August
4, 2011.
If convicted of the two crimes charged, he faces a maximum of six and a
half years in prison and would be banned from holding any public job. However, as in all cases, a grand jury will
decide the appropriateness of these charges and will decide if other charges
should be filed.
Based upon the audit and the
recently-concluded reviews and re-investigations, it is alleged in the
complaint that, between 2003 and 2007, Rowe knowingly made false entries in New
Brunswick Police Department records indicating that 81 internal affairs
investigations assigned to him had been completed, knowing he had failed to
conduct, complete or otherwise properly close out those investigations.
Further, the complaint alleges that Rowe removed, concealed or destroyed some
of the files regarding the 81 investigations.
Pursuant to Middlesex County
Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General guidelines,
the New Brunswick Police Department has submitted revised quarterly and/or
yearly Internal Affairs Summary Report Forms to both agencies for the years
2003 through 2010, consistent with the results of the investigations.
Additionally, based on the New Brunswick Police Department’s revised
statistics, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in August 2011, submitted
revised yearly report forms for Middlesex County to the Attorney General.
In an effort to avoid unwarranted suspicion or speculation, Prosecutor
Kaplan further announced that neither of the two officers involved in the
shooting death on September 22, 2011, of Barry E. Deloatch, 46,
of
However, one of the investigations mishandled by Rowe did involve one
of the officers linked to the Deloatch shooting. During an incident on May 23, 2006, an
internal affairs complaint was filed against that officer and his partner by a
The complaint against these officers was investigated by a supervisor,
but Rowe is alleged to have failed to properly close out the file. The officers
were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The investigation into the shooting is active and is continuing.
As with all defendants, Rowe is presumed innocent until proven guilty.