Mike Deak
Prosecutor: Officer James
Denman, former PAL treasurer, has already repaid money
A Scotch Plains police officer
has been charged with embezzling $18,000 from the Police Athletic
League.(Photo: ~File photo)
Story Highlights
SCOTCH PLAINS – A township
police officer has been charged with taking approximately $18,000 from the
Scotch Plains-Fanwood Police Athletic League (PAL) for personal use, according
to acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park.
Officer James Denman, 50, was
charged on Thursday with one count of third-degree misapplication of trust
funds.
State records show that Denman
earned $106,348 in 2013.
An investigation by the Union
County Prosecutor's Office's Special Prosecutions Unit discovered that Denman,
the former treasurer of the local PAL chapter, allegedly took the funds
sometime in December 2013 while he was off-duty from his police work, according
to Union County Assistant Prosecutor John Esmerado, who is handling the case.
The funds allegedly were taken
without the permission of any executive or board member of the PAL, Esmerado
said.
The nonprofit PAL, founded in
1991, sponsors youth athletic programs in Scotch Plains and Fanwood to develop
a friendly relationship between youth and police officers.
In April, Denman repaid all of
the money into the PAL account, Esmerado said.
Denman is scheduled for a first
appearance in Union County Superior Court on Dec. 15 before Presiding Judge
Joan Robinson Gross.