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Alberto Gutierrez (Mugshot: BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE)
Alberto Gutierrez, 57, was processed this afternoon on charges of obstructing justice and witness tampering in connection with the June 7 incident, first reported on CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
(SEE: Hackensack officer suing city, county charged with beating, cover-up)
“This represents a sad example when an officer of the law loses focus for what he stands for and place himself above the law,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT early this evening.
Gutierrez “began contacting witnesses and appearing at some of their residences and at other locations where witnesses were,” even though he knew county detectives were investigating, the prosecutor said, confirming an earlier CLIFFVIEW PILOT report late this afternoon.
The veteran officer also “pressured witnesses to divulge information about the investigation and intimidated witnesses,” Molinelli said.
Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that Gutierrez allegedly “coached” another officer on what to say to the prosecutor’s detectives.
A group of Hackensack officers, along with two of their colleagues from Paramus, went to the home of Andrew Milberg, seeking revenge for a brawl outside the Houlihan’s restaurant in Paramus involving a fellow officer, Molinelli said.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned that the officer involved in the Paramus fight was the same one who was involved in a brawl last December that left him with a broken jaw (SEE: Probe under way into bar fight that left Hackensack cop with broken jaw).
During the arrest, Officer Anthony Ferraioli bashed Milberg in the head, sending him to the hospital with an ear injury later that night, the prosecutor said.
Ferraioli then “filed a police report containing false information,” Molinelli said.
Milberg was arrested on charges of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia, two law enforcement sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. Initial reports were then changed in an attempt to indicate he resisted arrest, they said.
Ferraioli, a 47-year-old former union president from Paramus, is one of one of more than a dozen officers who have brought civil rights charges against now-suspended Police Chief Charles “Ken” Zisa, claiming he retaliated against them for various reasons. Also named in the suits are the city of Hackensack and other superior officers.
As CLIFFVIEW PILOT first reported exclusively, a federal judge in Newark on Tuesday dismissed several civil rights complaints against Zisa and others by four other Hackensack police officers. Perhaps more significantly, the judge indicated he could require the city to impose sanctions against them. READ MORE….
Ferraioli remains free on bail, suspended without pay, charged with official misconduct, aggravated assault and falsifying police records.
Ferraioli and three other officers filed an amended federal suit this spring, alleging rampant corruption in the department’s upper management. Also named in the suit is Molinelli and his entire office.
Molinelli’s office monitored the city department for 11 months, under a Memorandum of Understanding with the city, after Zisa was charged in April 2010 with insurance fraud and covering up a DWI crash involving his girlfriend. Major internal matters have since been referred to his investigators to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Capt. Tomas Padilla has remained in charge.
Click here for: MORE ON FERRAIOLI
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