The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that former New Brunswick Police Department Sgt. Richard Rowe has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of mishandling 81 Internal Affairs complaints filed with the city police department from 2003 to 2008.
Rowe, 44, who resigned from the city police force on Aug. 4, was charged on Oct. 11 with "Official misconduct, tampering with public records or information, obstructing the administration of law, and committing a pattern of official misconduct by repeatedly closing internal affairs cases without properly investigating the complaints," according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
The grand jury charged that Rowe knowingly made false entries in New Brunswick Police Department records, knowingly failed to thoroughly conduct and close out those 81 investigations, and that he removed, hid or destroyed files
According to the release, Rowe worked in the Internal Affairs Division from Sept. 23, 2002, to March 17, 2008.
An investigation and audit ensued, and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and state Attorney General's office were called after it was discovered by the New Brunswick Police Department that files were missing, the release said.
Rowe was suspended without pay from the force on March 21, at which point he was earning $123,202 annually.
If convicted, he could serve up to 21.5 years in state prison, lose his pension and be banned from public employment, the release said.
In the wake of the charges against Rowe, the New Brunswick Police Department has implemented some changes to ensure that Internal Affairs complaints are better handled. All complaints filed between January 2003 and March 2008 were reviewed. If any cases were deemed incomplete or missing documentation, thy were reopened and re-investigated, the release said.
Additionally, the police department announced that going forward, all new Internal Affairs complaints will be sent for review by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office before they can be closed out
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