Breaking bad: long branch cop meth lab cop pleads guilty to charges

FREEHOLD – A former Long Branch Police Officer has pled guilty after being arrested and charged with various offenses related to manufacturing methamphetamine at his home in May 2021, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced.

Christopher Walls, 50, of West End Avenue in Long Branch, pled guilty on November 16, 2021, in front of Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley to charges of second degree Causing a Risk of Widespread Injury and 3^rd degree Manufacturing CDS (methamphetamine). The agreement includes an aggregate sentence of 10 years in a NJ State Prison with a 2-year-period of parole ineligibility. As part of his plea, Walls also permanently forfeited public office, as well as his firearms and firearms ID card.

Long Branch police were called to Walls’ home on the 300 block of West End Avenue at about 10:36 p.m. on May 15, 2021 for a domestic disturbance. While officers were on scene, another resident in the home alleged Walls was involved in suspicious narcotics activity. The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Hazmat Unit responded to the scene and located materials, chemicals and instruments consistent with a methamphetamine laboratory in both the basement of the residence and in a shed on the property. The NJSP Hazmat Unit confirmed that Walls was in possession of all ingredients necessary to manufacture methamphetamine and found methamphetamine residue in chemistry-related glassware on site. A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office’s Professional Responsibility and Narcotics Units and the Long Branch Police Department revealed that Walls had been in possession of books related to making methamphetamine, explosives, and poison.

Additionally, a large open and unsecured gun safe was in the home which was accessible to a child living in the residence. Inside the gun safe were two long guns, four handguns, eight high-capacity magazines, and a large quantity of ammunition.

Walls was charged with various criminal offenses on May 15, 2021 and had been detained pretrial by order of the New Jersey Appellate Division. During his plea, Walls admitted to making methamphetamine at his residence in Long Branch and to endangering his family and neighboring community in doing so. Laboratory tests confirmed that methamphetamine was in fact made in the residence.

Sentencing for Walls is set for January 14, 2022 before Judge O’Malley.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Melanie Falco, Director of the Office’s Professional Responsibilities and Bias Crime Unit.

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