TRENTON —A New Jersey State Police sergeant was indicted today for allegedly moonlighting as an insurance company investigator without authorization and for using state resources to carry out that job. The state Attorney General’s Office said James A. DeLorenzo, 54, of Blairstown, pulled a report from a State Police computer system for an insurance case, and failed to alert...
A 2009 photo of a New Jersey State Police vehicle.TRENTON —A New Jersey State Police sergeant was indicted today for allegedly moonlighting as an insurance company investigator without authorization and for using state resources to carry out that job.
The state Attorney General’s Office said James A. DeLorenzo, 54, of Blairstown, pulled a report from a State Police computer system for an insurance case, and failed to alert the state about an instance of insurance fraud in order to conceal his secondary employment at Geico.
"These are very serious allegations," said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. "While on duty and being paid by the state to serve the public, this detective allegedly enriched himself by performing a full-time job for a private company."
DeLorenzo’s attorney George Daggett said the indictment — and DeLorenzo’s suspension without pay in August 2009 — is payback from the State Police. DeLorenzo sued the agency in August saying he is being targeted for raising concerns about mismanagement and wasteful spending at the department’s Solid Hazardous Waste Unit in 2006. Daggett said that case is still pending.
"This indictment is not unexpected," he said. "This is the ultimate whistleblowing case: He complains, and they employ a pattern of adverse employment decisions, and then they indict him."
The indictment said the State Police suspended DeLorenzo after the division discovered he had been at Geico for 18 months without notifying the department. Members of the force must seek approval for secondary employment. The attorney general’s office says in his job application to the insurance company, DeLorenzo indicated he had no other job.
Daggett said that DeLorenzo, a 28-year veteran of the department, was preparing to retire and take the Geico job but that his exit was stalled because the State Police opened investigations into his activities.
DeLorenzo could face five to 10 years of prison for the most serious charges. The eight-count indictment also alleges he falsified electronic records of his daily hours to hide his second job.
"What is also deeply troubling is he allegedly used a subordinate trooper to obtain a police report containing confidential information about a juvenile," Aseltine said.
A State Police spokesman, Acting Maj. Gerald Lewis, said, "We’re just going to let the case run its course through the judicial system."
By Salvador Rizzo/Statehouse Bureau staff
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