Prosecutor’s office faces discrimination lawsuit

A whistleblower suit filed by a sergeant in the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office claims his reputation is “forever marred and ruined” after mocking images of him — including one depicting his face between two women kissing — were posted in the office.

Detective Sgt. Michael Nugent claims in the federal suit filed June 5 in Trenton that he “has lived a nightmare” for more than three years because of the malicious acts of several prosecutor’s office employees.

A former member of the state Division of Criminal Justice, Nugent had a “pristine and unblemished” reputation within law enforcement before a high-ranking member of the prosecutor’s office was overheard saying in July 2005 that he used Nugent’s identification photo to create “funny” pictures, which were reportedly sent to law enforcement agencies statewide, the suit states.

According to the suit, pictures posted in the prosecutor’s office included Nugent being “depicted on a coffee break, slovenly attired, with a firearm in his belt and drinking liquor” while another showed him as a groom with a heavy-set black woman as his bride.

Nugent, who is white, was also depicted as a sibling of three black children and, in another image, “with a mocking religious symbol on his forehead,” according to the suit, which claims no one investigated who was responsible for the images.

The lawsuit, filed by Caldwell attorney Patrick P. Toscano Jr., also claims members of the office have discriminated or retaliated against Nugent, whose working conditions have become “unbearable.”

According to the suit, Hunterdon County Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes also held an unexplained “deep-seeded animus” toward Nugent, who still works in the office.

The retaliation from superiors violated the state Conscientious Employee Protection Act, commonly called the whistleblower act, the suit claims. Nugent is seeking to clear his work record of any files reflecting “retaliation animus,” as well as unspecified relief and court costs.

“The racial animus within the Hunterdon prosecutor’s office is abundantly clear and obvious,” states the suit, which goes on to say the discrimination apparently existed during the prosecution of former NBA star Jayson Williams.
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Williams defense attorneys have continued to claim the athlete’s manslaughter trial in the 2002 shooting death of a limo driver was tainted by racial bias and prosecutorial misconduct.

A second whistleblower suit against Barnes — filed by Katharine Errickson, a former assistant prosecutor — is pending in state Superior Court. Errickson, who argued in the Williams trial, claims in her suit that Barnes pounded walls, punched cabinets and used “extreme profanity” in the office.

Errickson also claims Barnes retaliated against her for complaining after Barnes encouraged her and others to embellish the needs of the prosecutor’s office to obtain more state funding, according to court documents.

Barnes declined to comment on Nugent’s suit, and he referred questions to Hunterdon County counsel Guy DeSapio.

DeSapio, like Barnes, said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the suit, but added that the county had authorized an outside attorney, Cynthia Jacob, to investigate the validity of Nugent’s claims and to report her findings. DeSapio said he reviewed Jacob’s report, but he declined to comment on it.