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Officer Lorenzo Bowden, 39, initially agreed with Sgt. Jose Gonzalez and Sgt. Donald Vinales not to talk after they'd received federal grand jury subpoenas two years ago this month, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.
Bowden eventually had a change of heart.
The pretrial detainee was "transported through an area of the PCJ that does not have a video surveillance camera, which correctional officers and inmates at the PCJ have referred to as a 'blind spot'," on Jan. 22, 2021, Sellinger said.
Gonzalez and Vinales assaulted the handcuffed detainee, knocking him to the ground and beating him, for which the victim had to be hospitalized, the U.S. attorney said.
"During an interview with federal investigators in October 2022, Bowden falsely stated that the detainee had not been assaulted and that there had not been any meeting or communication among those who participated in or witnessed the assault," Sellinger said.
Fast forward to today, where Bowden -- having taken a deal from state authorities -- pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in U.S. District Court in Newark.
“There are methods to hold accountable suspected criminals who act out while in custody,” FBI – Newark Special-Agent-in-Charge Hames E. Dennehy said following the plea hearing. “Corrections officers know these procedures and policies."
“The vast majority of law enforcement officers understand the trust placed in them by our community when they wear the badge," Sellinger added. "But when law enforcement officers abuse the trust the community places in them – when they violate the constitutional rights of the people of New Jersey, including prisoners, they will be held accountable.”
U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz scheduled sentencing for Sept. 5.
Meanwhile, Sellinger's staff turns its attention to Gonzalez and Vinales, whose cases are still pending. What they end up doing will be determined, in part, by how much Bowden has agreed to cooperate with the government.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and the Passaic County Sheriff’s Division of Internal Affairs with the investigation leading to the plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the Criminal Division and the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Civil Rights Task Force, and R. Joseph Gribko, deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Division.
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