A grand jury today indicted a suspended state Human Services police captain on charges he faked time sheets, used a state vehicle for personal trips, and ordered officers to misuse state databases, the Attorney General's Office announced.
Brian Brady, 50, of Sparta, “allegedly falsified timesheets in order to collect pay as if on duty for days when he was away on vacation or traveling for personal business,” Stephen J. Taylor, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, said in a prepared statement. “On top of that, he allegedly used a police vehicle and state-funded gas for those personal trips. We will not tolerate that type of abuse of public office.”
Brady was the third-highest ranking official in the Human Services police force, which is responsible for patrolling and investigating incidents at psychiatric hospitals and facilities for the developmentally disabled, and accompanying Division of Youth and Family Service workers on high-risk home visits.
The nine-count indictment said Brady ordered a Human Services police officer to conduct background checks on members of a minor league baseball team using a restricted police database. He also ordered officers to use the police database to run background checks on a home health care worker he was considering hiring and a vehicle he wanted to buy, according to the indictment handed up to Superior Court Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County.
Brady faces three counts of official misconduct, one count of a pattern of official misconduct, one count of theft by deception, two counts of tampering with public records, and two counts of computer theft, according to a statement from the state Attorney General's office. If convicted, he would face a sentence of at least five years to 10 years.
Brady's attorney, Mario Iavicoli of Haddonfield, could not immediately be reached for comment.
When Brady was arrested in May, Iavicoli called the charges "bogus,'' and suggested that the charges against Brady were retaliation by superiors seeking to replace him.
Brady only had his state vehicle with him because he was constantly on call, Iavicoli said.
The attorney also said the background checks were conducted simply to help smooth the baseball team's trip to Canada, ensuring that it wouldn't be tripped up at the border. He denied allegations that Brady used a state database to looked up a vehicle he wanted to buy, and that he falsified firearms qualifications.
Brady is a former councilman and mayor of Sparta.