VERON, NJ – A former New Jersey police officer at the Vernon Township Police Department pleaded guilty to using his badge to pursue personal relationships with omen while on duty.
“A suspended Vernon township police officer pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his pursuit of personal relationships with women for his own prurient interests while on duty, even as his role as a law enforcement officer compromised their ability to freely consent,” Acting Sussex County Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said today.
According to New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, Emanuel Rivera, 38, of Vernon, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit official misconduct before Judge Michael Gaus in the state Superior Court in Sussex County.
Rivera also agreeed to forfeit his current public employees and has been banned from future public employment, as part of the plea agreement.
Hired in 2013, Rivera has been suspended without pay since August 10, 2021.
“The damage done to the trust of these women and the public by this disgraced officer’s actions is an outrage,” said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “Police officers are expected to be professional and to respect the laws they enforce and the dignity of the people they serve. That was not on display here, and I am hopeful that this defendant’s fate makes it clear that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
According to court records, Rivera admitted that while on duty, he had approached women he interacted with in his official capacity and had sought personal relationships in violation of the Vernon Police Department’s rules and regulations.
“He also acknowledged that there was an imbalance of power between him and the women he was propositioning, leaving the women unable to consent because of the coercive, intimidating nature of such requests coming from a uniformed police officer,” Platkin said.
Police officers, including Rivera, responded to a call at a Vernon Township residence on May 11, 2019, where they encountered a woman and her ex-boyfriend. Responding officers were informed by the woman that she would spend the night at a friend’s house in Vernon after she left the residence.
After being unable to reach her friend, the woman decided to sleep in her car. Approximately twenty minutes after parking her car, Rivera approached her, walking up to her car’s driver’s side window while he was still on duty.
Rivera allegedly made inappropriate sexual remarks to her and reached down her shirt. After Rivera instructed the victim to follow his patrol vehicle, he parked behind an abandoned church in Vernon. In the course of the encounter, Rivera directed the victim to exit the vehicle, engaged in sexual contact with her, and she resisted and ended the act. Rivera then returned to work, and the victim notified several friends.