An update that appeared in the WW-P News’ “In the Courts” section on March 2 incorrectly stated former Plainsboro police officer Nick Procaccini had been terminated from his position. Procaccini retired in good standing from the department and after multiple legal battles, he says, the Plainsboro Police withdrew the original termination charge and he withdrew his own lawsuit against the department.
Extortion charges against Procaccini were dismissed January 4 in Middlesex County Court. The former officer, a West Windsor resident, characterized the investigation “as an attempt to discredit former officers as witnesses” in a sexual harassment suit brought against the department. At the time of the charges, Procaccini’s lawyer described him as “a whistleblower” (WW-P News, January 21, 2011). The three men involved in the extortion case were Procaccini, Al Williams of Iselin (a Plainsboro Police dispatcher) and retired officer Jason Mariano of Allentown.
Mariano and former officer Jennifer Wittmer, who made accusations of sexual harassment, had each filed lawsuits against the township and police department (WW-P News, February 19, 2010). Plainsboro Business Administrator Robert O. Sheehan said that those lawsuits were set aside “because the criminal matter had to do with trying to extort and influence people in regards to the case.”
“With the criminal matter getting sorted out by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, we assume that the proceedings relative to the two lawsuits will now move forward,” Sheehan said.
