Four Edison police officers facing trial after one turns down plea deal
Four suspended Edison police officers facing racketeering charges lost their chance this week to have the case dismissed by resigning from their jobs, after one turned down the deal.
The last defendant is now scheduled to be arraigned in December and all four will be on the same track for the case to proceed, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, which did not specify which officer has not yet been arraigned and which of the four turned down the deal.
Earlier this month the prosecutor's office announced a grand jury returned a 24-count indictment charging Sgt. Ioannis (John) Mpletsakis, 43, of Edison; Patrolman James Panagoulakos, 36, of Jackson; Patrolman Gregory Makras, 38, of Cranford; and Sgt. Brian Rossmeyer, 45, of Bridgewater, with racketeering, bribery, theft, money laundering and witness tampering.
The officers also were charged with conspiracy, official misconduct, pattern of official misconduct, hindering apprehension, fabricating evidence, falsifying documents, failure to pay income tax, filing fraudulent tax returns, retaliating against a witness and retaliation for past official action, according to the prosecutor's office.
The charges stem from an internal affairs investigation that indicates from 2016 to 2018, the officers allegedly were involved in a scheme to exploit the Edison Police Department’s extra-duty job assignments, by getting paid for jobs for which they did not appear.
The officers, who volunteered to take these extra assignments, had full police responsibilities while assigned to the extra-duty jobs which involved directing traffic for utility companies as well as providing security services for local businesses and residential communities.
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The investigation also indicated Mpletsakis allegedly stole from the Police Benevolent Association by using a PBA debit card to make unauthorized purchases for personal items and used his executive position on the Edison PBA Local 75 to allegedly defraud Edison Township and the PBA.
The officers originally were charged on June 1, 2018, and indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 19, 2019, and shortly after made a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging the prosecutor's office failed to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, failed to correct misstatements made to the grand jury and failed to establish all elements of the crimes.
A superior court judge dismissed the complaint and indictment in April 2020 but allowed the prosecutor's office to present the case again to a grand jury. New complaints were signed against the officers the following month and the same judge who dismissed them earlier, dismissed them again.
The officers then filed suit against the township, asking that they be reinstated and receive back pay, and a judge granted that action on Sept. 14, 2020.
In-person grand jury session resumed in the summer of 2021, following months of court delays due to the pandemic.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Edison police officers facing racketeering trial
