Has Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes lost trust? Paterson activists say yes

PATERSON — Outraged over Passaic County Prosecutor Camela Valdes’ inaction on corrupt Paterson cops, local social justice activists say she has lost the public’s trust and should resign.

Activists said this week’s news that Valdes’ office dropped 10 investigations against five Paterson cops who ended up being convicted by federal authorities represents just the latest example of what they describe as the prosecutor’s ongoing failure to protect the community from rogue law enforcement officers.

“If she couldn’t find enough evidence against these cops who the FBI arrested and convicted, then we need a new prosecutor,” said Paterson activist Ernest Rucker. “The community has no trust in her. What are we supposed to do, call the FBI every time we have a problem with one of our police officers?

“She should resign immediately,” Rucker added.

Seven of the 10 cases that Valdes’ office scrapped involved one Paterson police officer, Eudy Ramos, according to documents made public this week. Ramos eventually pleaded guilty to robbing and beating people he illegally stopped, admitting eight specific crimes that occurred after Valdes’ initial decision not to pursue a case against him.

“This just proved what people felt for many years,” said Zellie Thomas, leader of Paterson’s Black Lives Matter group. “There is very little faith in the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. There’s also very little faith in the Paterson Police Department.”

Thomas noted that the prosecutor’s office is supposed to be watching over Paterson’s police. “But who is going to watch over the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office?” he asked.

For subscribers:Why did the Passaic prosecutor decline to investigate Paterson's 'robbery squad?'

That job falls to the New Jersey Attorney General.

The attorney general's office did not respond when Paterson Press asked whether Valdes notified the state law enforcement agency at the time her staff decided not to seek prosecutions against Ramos and the other rogue cops.

Valdes also has not responded when asked the same question. Nor has she provided any explanation for her office’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against the five officers — Ramos, Jonathan Bustios, Daniel Pent, Matthew Torres and Frank Toledo — all of whom ended up being convicted in federal court.

Paterson's 'robbery squad': FBI investigation leads to convictions, federal prison terms

“I’m left to believe that the ball was dropped here,” said Jason Williams, an associate professor of justice studies at Montclair State University and a Black Lives Matter activist. “It almost puts me at a loss for words. It’s mind-bending, really.”

Williams said prosecutors tend to go soft on local cops “because of their partnership in fighting crime.” He said he thinks the prosecutor may have made a “political decision” not to pursue the cases against the Paterson officers.

“It seems like she decided to let this go in anticipation of the feds coming in,” said Williams, who has been closely following the Paterson police corruption scandal. “If the feds could come up with this evidence against these cops, then state should have been able to do it, too.”

At the time of the first arrests, in April 2018, then-Paterson police chief Troy Oswald said the city’s Internal Affairs Division spotted some troubling complaints about the rogue cops. He said he went to the prosecutor’s office asking for an investigation.

Oswald — who is now running for Passaic County Commissioner — said the prosecutor’s office told him it lacked the resources to conduct such a probe, so he said he took the case to the FBI.

“People talk about the blue wall of silence, but that’s not what happened here,” Oswald said four years ago, on the day Ramos and Bustios were arrested.

Our view:Camelia Valdes had a chance to stop Paterson's 'robbery squad.' She must resign

The United States Attorney’s Office declined to say exactly what prompted the FBI to begin its investigation of the Paterson police department.

“It’s very scary,” said Thomas, the Paterson BLM leader. “If it wasn’t for Troy Oswald going to the FBI, then these officers might still be on the street right now.”

Thomas said Valdes’ inaction regarding the self-proclaimed “robbery squad” of rogue cops echoes her office’s handling of other high-profile cases, like the police-custody death of Jameek Lowery in 2019 and this year’s disappearance of Felix DeJesus after he was handcuffed and put in a patrol vehicle by two officers.

Mayor Andre Sayegh did not respond when asked for his thoughts about Valdes’ decisions not to prosecute the crooked cops. Most members of the City Council and several Paterson clergy leaders also opted not to comment on the situation.

“I don’t know the information the prosecutors had in front of them,” said Paterson City Council President Shahin Khalique. “However if they had all the information then shame on the prosecutor’s office.”

Under state guidelines, local police Internal Affairs investigators are supposed to refer to the county prosecutor’s office any complaints that may turn out to be criminal in nature. That’s what happened with the 10 investigations cited in the documents released last week. All of them had Paterson IA case numbers.

“This case is being returned to your department for whatever administrative actions are deemed necessary, unless additional investigation reveals further evidence of criminal wrongdoing,” Valdes’ Public Integrity Unit told Paterson IA’s division in letters saying there was “insufficient evidence” for criminal charges.

The prosecutor’s letters do not provide any details of the allegations against the cops, just the names of the officer or officers targeted and the separate Paterson IA case numbers. The letters do not provide enough information to determine whether the prosecutor’s office opted to scrap investigations of the very same crimes that resulted in federal convictions of the cops.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic County Prosecutor must resign, Paterson activists say