Millville officer sues over alleged retaliation

BRIDGETON - A Millville police sergeant claims in a lawsuit filed in state court on Aug. 8 that his department has twice retaliated against him since 2015 for pursuing an Internal Affairs investigation into another officer.

The lawsuit from Detective Sgt. Brian Starcher names as defendants the Police Department, city government, and a series of “John Does.” The John Doe inclusion opens the possibility of more “named” defendants as the case proceeds.

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The two-count lawsuit’s demands include unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, legal costs, attorney fees and reinstatement to the Internal Affairs office. Starcher also claims he was forced to resign as a firearms instructor and seeks related back pay.

Starcher put Millville on notice in January with a grievance letter on Jan. 15 to the city clerk that he was considering a lawsuit. In that letter, which was leaked in July, demanded workplace protection under New Jersey’s Conscientious Protection Act or “whistleblower” law.

Starcher stated in that letter that Officer William “Tony” Loteck, at the time working with him in the Internal Affairs office, had engaged in improper conduct. His first reports to top officials were ignored, which forced him to take extraordinary action to put the charge on the record, he claims.

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Neither the letter, nor the new lawsuit, state exactly what Loteck allegedly did.  Starcher says he had complained about Loteck first in late 2014, that subsequently Loteck was off work for a long period, and returned to work in late 2015. On his return, Starcher continued to seek action.

Starcher claims his accusation against Loteck finally was accepted by superiors as accurate, at least in some part, and that unspecified discipline was ordered. Loteck, however, also was reassigned to Internal Affairs while Starcher was moved over his protest to the Detective Division.

The lawsuit filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, like the letter before it, alleges that then-Acting Chief Jody Farabella reassigned Starcher to the detectives unit only three and a half weeks after Loteck was “written up.”

Farabella was not the chief when the original complaint was made. Farabella officially became chief Sept. 1, 2015, but ran the department since that May in an acting capacity.

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“Further substantiating the retaliatory causative nature of this retaliation was the fact that Loteck, the subject of plaintiff’s (Starcher’s) protected conduct, was given plaintiff’s job,” the lawsuit states.

“As the result of the demotion, plaintiff has been caused to suffer not only embarrassment, humiliation and upset as a result of this adverse job action, i.e., suffering of a non-economic nature, but plaintiff has also been caused to suffer a significant loss of overtime opportunities that work in Internal Affairs afforded him, opportunities that have now been denied him as a result of his new position,” the suit goes on to state.”

The lawsuit calls Starcher’s removal as a firearms instructor the other retaliatory act against him. The filing does not give dates related to the removal.

The city does not comment on active litigation.

According to Starcher, he was assigned to conduct training in the use of automatic weapons despite not being certified to do so. He states he then assigned Officer Charles Twigg to conduct the firearms training.

“Plaintiff was under the reasonable belief that certain paperwork was required by the municipality and/or the state and/or the federal government concerning the documentation of automatic firearm weapon training,” the lawsuit states. “When plaintiff checked to see whether Twigg was completing the paperwork as required, plaintiff was surprised to find that substantially all, or all, necessary paperwork had not been timely and/or correctly completed.

“Plaintiff began to inquire of Twigg regarding this issue, but received no satisfaction,” the suit adds. “The fact that questioning Twigg about this issue resulted in Captain Jody Farbella, who was in the capacity of acting chief, to undertake retaliation against the plaintiff as a result of plaintiff’s conduct regarding Twigg.”

Starcher says his letter resigning as a firearms instructor was written “essentially under duress” and is costing him $2,000 to $4,000 in income. Starcher says that he is certified for some firearms instruction assignments.

Joseph P. Smith; (856) 563-5252; jsmith@gannettnj.com