A dispatcher for the Plainsboro Police Department and two retired police officers — both of whom have been embroiled in litigation over the past few years with the township — have been charged with extortion.
The three men involved are Al Williams, 37, of Iselin, a current dispatcher in Plainsboro; Nicholas Procaccini, 43, of South Lane in West Windsor; and Jason Mariano, 41, of Allentown.
According to a press release from the Plainsboro Police Department, the three men are charged with taking part in a conspiracy to extort information from another office in an attempt to strengthen a lawsuit that has been filed against the township and its police department.
Each has been charged with a single count of second degree conspiracy to commit extortion. In addition, Williams was charged with a count of second degree extortion.
Williams was charged on December 11 and is currently free after posting $35,000 bail. Procaccini and Mariano were both charged January 13. Both posted $50,000 bail.
According to the press release, police determined through investigation that Williams — on behalf of Mariano and Procaccini — contacted another officer on November 29 and threatened to reveal confidential and embarrassing information about that officer unless that officer provided confidential and embarrassing information that would help Mariano in his own civil lawsuit against the township and police department. Police are withholding the unidentified officer’s name at this time.
The lawsuit accuses the township and the police department of harassment, but since the case is pending, the township and police department declined comment.
The two-month investigation into the alleged extortion began after the unidentified officer received the phone call from Williams and then notified Internal Affairs, stated the press release.
The arrests come less than a year after Procaccini settled with the township and police department after he was terminated from his position.
After nearly eight months of hearings and testimony, a settlement was reached in the termination case just before Procaccini was scheduled to take the stand in June, 2010.
The settlement allowed Procaccini to retire and was reached just prior to a continuation of the public hearing. The details of the settlement are confidential.
Prior to the settlement, the department had been pursuing Procaccini’s termination based on four charges: he was late for duty; he did not follow protocol when making motor vehicle stops; he violated procedure dealing with sick leave; and he violated policy in using the department’s E-mail system.
Procaccini’s attorneys, however, characterized Procaccini as a whistleblower. He alleged that the charges were for behavior exhibited by many officers in the department and that his client was being targeted as a result of defending another officer whom he says was terminated for filing a sexual harassment complaint.
Details of that complaint were summarized in a case that ended up in Middlesex County Superior Court, where Mariano claims he faced retaliation as a result of defending Jennifer Wittmer, who was let go after only one year on the force. The two officers filed the civil lawsuit, a copy of which was sent to the News, in February, 2010.
