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ATLANTIC CITY - Multiple city police officers are under criminal investigation for alleged theft during a drug raid about two months ago, police Chief John J. Mooney III confirmed Tuesday night.

Mooney said the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and the city's Internal Affairs Division are investigating "more than one" police officer involved in a search warrant at a resort home in September.

The chief told The Press of Atlantic City that no one has been charged yet and declined to provide the names of the officers, citing Police Department policy. Mooney also declined to discuss what allegedly was taken from the home.

"That's part of what the investigation is trying to determine," the chief said.

Mooney did confirm that charges were brought against one of the drug suspects, adding that the person was not arrested during the raid.

City Business Administrator Michael Scott declined comment on the investigation Tuesday. "That's a police matter," he said.

City Solicitor Robert L. Tarver Jr. said he had heard something about an investigation into city police officers, but did not know any details.

Contact Michael Clark:

609-272-7204

Michael.Clark@pressofac.com

36 comments:

• southjersey (154) posts 7:55 am

  Thrush Some breeds are especially prone to bite. That is so wrong and very incorrect. People/owners create this behavior in any dog. There is no breed specific dog that is prone to bite. Good training and not being agressive toward your dog will create a well behaved dog. training is key and repetition. Same for kids Rules bondaries and limitations - it works for people too.

• B4real (268) posts 1:50 pm

  Is there something in the water in A.C.? Between bad cops, molesting firefighters and the ghetto populace in and out of city hall, this city is screwed.

• TheTruthHurts (59) posts 4:48 pm

  ACPD is no Pville PD, its gonna take more that a 4 watt light bulb to get any of the AC players to crack! Where do you think NO SNITCHIN came from? its common knowledge that an honest cop who tells on or reports the illegal activities of bad cops is called a RAT by their Blue Family! and will be shunned the rest of their career by them! Hey they even held a Choir Practice last week at one of the players homes! unfortunately one of the choir crashed his vehicle in AC on route #30 at 9:00 AM while allegedly DWI, and was locked up by an honest AC cop! guess who's the being looked upon as the Bad Guy?

• Bobstake (224) posts 12:40 pm

  Innocent until proven guilty. Guilty of what? Let's not jump to conclusions here. This is only an investigation. No arrests, indictments or trials to date. However,any Officer under investigation should be transferred to non-street duty.

• SummerWind (22) posts 9:10 am

  Tarver's comment "I heard something..." is the funniest part of this article. Is he that ignorant or are there that many investigations going on he can't keep up? Also, I'm sure the press really appreciates ACPD! (For giving them fodder for their front page again!)

• whyoknabth (106) posts 2:31 am

  Just wondering....It seems that a Pville officer was recently accused of doing something similiar & the Press had no problem publishing his name & photo. Are these AC officers still on duty? What's the deal?

• Thrush (103) posts 3:49 pm

  heck, people are bitten by dogs by the THOUSANDS. Indeed, if your homeowner's policy or renter's insurance does not include your dog, and it bites someone seriously, you are up the creek. Atlantic magazine had a long article showing that all the single womyn, and worrisome parents, buying big dogs for protection or in lieu of kids ("Must Love Dogs"), are endangered when the dog becomes housebound for too long. Some breeds are especially prone to this. The point is, only the perps are screaming so loud about dog nips, often applied to subdue the suspect. They pretend Bull Connor is setting the dogs on them again in their subconscious race-memory (while shamelessly fulfilling every single negative stereotype that "Martin" strove to overcome). The rest of America deals with dog bites daily, in epidemic proportions, and there is no hue & cry remotely comparable to that from the 6 or 7 A.C. grifters. It prevents shooting them to stop a fleeing felon, no? Imagine the outcry then. Fact is, ACPD is one of the most easy-going forces in America, and properly so, explained by two influences: it's a small town with ONE high school, and one for the Catholics (primarily) in the Absecon swamp, and, it's a resort (despite Lord Langford's hostility toward tourists) where the cops show restraint for visitors uninformed about local laws, who may party a bit much or whatever while here, etc. As to the locals, they know the laws, break them frequently, and have vastly more interaction with the doggies consequently. Only in a racially polarized city of 38,000, with more residents than ever subsisting below the poverty line, and thus apathetic,or too busy eking out a living, would the criminal element gin this up to the extent the dogs were furloughed. Call it the "Triumph of the 'No-Snitching' Underclass."

• AC08401 (8) posts 12:08 pm

  Expecting people to take responsibility for their actions makes me a "flat foot"? Huh?? That must be some type of ghetto logic. Anyway, every single person who cried to Langford about being bit by the K9s was convicted of their respective crimes. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Got it? So if you or your family members were bit, it wasn't by accident. And no, you weren't profiled either. YOU WERE COMMITTING A CRIME AND/OR RESISTING ARREST. In other words, YOU DESERVED IT.

• shameonyou2 (12) posts 10:52 am

  Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner ac08401. Your reply was spoken like a true flat foot. Don't be so obvious next time.

• TheTruthHurts (59) posts 1:59 am

  Rumor has it the wife beater is on his way back! a lack of documentation of any alleged prior incidents that would have justified termination has opened the door for him to return to the ranks of the ACPD! sounds plausible since apparently you cant be terminated for date rape, possession of narcotics,neglect of duty,stalking,lying to Internal Affairs, abusing alcohol or drugs,sexual harassment,need I continue.......

• Ohmygoodness (90) posts 12:34 am

  That One, Or Steve Young Jr, We got rid of the women beating cop (Torres) years ago. Chief Mooney did this one right by firing a problem employee who was such when hired. Torres can be found at city council meetings complaining about the things he did when he was a cop. If I were you I would certainly sue the school system from which you attended, especially your english teacher.

• Lew Carroll (122) posts 12:16 am

  Thatone is not far off-base. What he describes is a microcosm of the Ramparts Div. scandal in LAPD, and of Serpico many years before. The cops will raid a bait house sooner or later, it will all be on video, and items perhaps marked with a non-detectable trace chemical, and so on. Maybe even money with dye packs, or hidden transmitters. All kinds of technical trickery are available to the Feds. And there's always the cops who roll over, and fess up to things the Feds were not even aware of. It's an old story. A great movie about it is Deep Cover with Lawrence Fishburne.

• AC08401 (8) posts 11:02 pm

  Hey thatone, I suggest you also sue whatever school you attended.

• thatone (3) posts 9:34 pm

  OK THIS IS A GREAT STORY...IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS TO HIT THE FAN..THE POLICE BEEN CORRUPT, ITS JUST TO MANY TIMES THAT NOW THEY CANT CONT. HIDING THE STUFF THEY DOING..IM A VICTUM OF ACPD FIRST HAND AND HAVE A LAWSUITE AGAINST THEM PENDING RIGHT NOW..THEY HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH THERE HANDS NOT ONLY DID THEY BEAT ON WOMAN AND BLACKS ALL THE TIME,,,,ITS GOOD FOR THEM ...I HOPE THEY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE..LOOK AT THE MISHANDLE OF THE POLICE DOGS..OF COURSE ITS THE CORRUPT COPS FAULT..AND OF COURSE NOW THAT THE SO CALLED DRUG DEALERS WENT AND PRESSED CHARGES ON THESE COPS FOR STEELING , NOW THE POLICE WANT TO COME BACK AND THAN WANT TO PUT DRUG CHARGES ON THESE PEOPLE...THAT RIGHT THERE IS ILLEGAL..THEY HAVE TO CHARGE YOU ON THE SCEAN NOT A WEEK LATER AFTER CHARGES BEEN PRESSED ON THE POLICE...WHAT BUNCH OF $$

• gchernya (20) posts 4:16 pm

  Let me explain how this works. Regional FBI has informants inside all significant local PDs, so it is not like nobody watching. On the other hand not every deviation is documented and prosecuted in part not to blow the cover of FBI informants, in part not to create a PR nightmares for PD involved. I do suspect the operation in question has a flair of additional undercover flavor from get go. 20 officers are way to many to process evidence from a drug bust, but more then enough to mix dirty cops and undercover informants without giving away the informants. If anything, SWAT like team can be involved, but they not going to waste their time cataloging the evidence, just secure area and leave later. What might trigger investigation like this, is the certain suspicion existing in the area about some cops covering for drug dealers of their choosing. Anything less then investigation into drugs recycling back to the market would not have triggered the probe. Pocketing money, jewelry, even drugs for their own use, let alone stealing some stupid puppy would not have triggered the investigation. After all anything can be turned to the property room little later, after the friendly pier reminder in response to complains from especially stinky defendant. The task of keeping PD in line is very narrow one, as preventing it from becoming their own opposite, and thus terrible liability to the whole ladder of political system.

• Tin Lizzy (57) posts 2:55 pm

  GoodFella below fails to mention the specific charge. and he calls a misdemeanor, or an infraction, "a criminal record." ha ha, most of America then has the same. Also, cops don't write "reports" on request, who are you kidding?? I lived in Philly and the crap they did was amazing (one guy was shot 26 times, seriatim, while he lay in the middle of the street - after a cop died in the shootout. each cop put one round into him, one of the cops told me. No matter.) You did not even need a HS degree to get on PPD, until after the MOVE debacle showed how nutso the cops were, and not just during the Cisco Kid's reign of suppression. You get the ACPD report later thru the police clerk or whomever. stop blowing smoke.

• Tin Lizzy (57) posts 2:46 pm

  B1 Bob below thinks nothing changes, corruption continues unimpeded? Not true. The laws stiffen commensurately, new investigative techniques are developed, surveillance technology advances, RICO and Interpol came into play, and so on. the number of corrupt pols & hacks jailed in the past 10 years has clearly accelerated, across all races and regions. Mayors of Detroit, Newark, Birmingham, Providence, the Governor of Lousiana, and dozens more. Indeed, look at the truthful depictions in The Sopranos about the never-ending surveillance and trials. And Gotti, Scarfo, Testa, de Cavalcante, Merlino, & many others are a dimming memory. Soon, bigtime Democrat Fat Cat Charlie Rangel, Bronx blowhard & pompadour, will be indicted, I intimate from several NY Times articles.

• Ohmygoodness (90) posts 1:39 pm

  Honestly, They have seen Mayor Langford and Speedy both rob the taxpayers blind and thumb thier nose at the Attorney general. So really who cares? Its not like they were Sergeants sniffing coke from the butt crack of a hooker at the PBA convention!!!!!!!!! Surely this will all blow over. (no pun intended with the word blow)

• GoodPerson (1) posts 1:26 pm

  To: AC08401 I used to think like you but based on actual life altering experience with the Atlantic Police I was arrested for basically no reason. At the time I was not told why I was arrested or read my rights or even given a phone call. I was trying to check in at the Irish Pub in August and the front desk clerk was having a bad day. He basically took out his fustrations on me. He put unauthorized charges on my debit card which caused an overdraft. I was only to have the deposit on my card which I called in to the manager "Frank" a week before my stay. When I was to arrive I'd pay the rest in cash. The front desk clerk reversed the room charge but did not give me my room deposit back and would not let me sleep in the room. I did not fight with him or get angry I just asked "can't we talk about this" and he just said if I didn't leave he would call the cops and I said "good, I'll sit here and wait for them to come. I thought I would need a police report to make a complaint against the hotel. The front desk clerk would not even tell me his name. I was not rude to him. The officer that arrested me did not want to hear my story he just told me I had to leave and I wanted to get a police report. I COMPLIED with all his requests and all his instructions about going to the parking lot and everything but all he wanted me to do was to leave the whole area. He got fustrated when I asked him for a police report. I didn't know at the time that the Irish Pub was partly owned by the police so especially being by my myself I didn't have a chance. The officer looked like he was 15 years old.....so I also think part of the problem is the inexperience of the officer. I've never had any trouble with the law and I consider my self a fair and honest hard working person. I'm from Philadelphia and I have the utmost respect for the Philadelphia police but in AC ...stay in the casinos do not venture out of the casinos. Revel should spend some of the money on extra training for the police. I now have a record and had to pay an over draft charge of $36.00 and the court charges. I was surprised to find out that if you can't afford a lawyer you have to pay $100.00 for a public defender in Atlantic City. I must have watched too much television. Since it is your word against a "Police Officer" you know you won't win that case. The police can write anything they want on a police report. I can't wait until Pennsylvania gets table games.

• GETALIFE911 (1) posts 12:24 pm

  Lets just remind those who are so "quick to jump the gun" about police officers being corrupt that this is an ALLEGATION, by a DRUG DEALER, who, if they weren't doing anything wrong, would never be in this situation. Who do you believe, a criminal drug dealer who is taking advantage of our system and contributing to the downfall of our society or those who devote their lives to try to fix this disgusting city? I doubt any of you were at the incident to determine what actually happened but if I were you, I'd quit ASSUMING what you claim to know while I was ahead. When you put your lives on the line EVERY time you leave for work, then talk to me.

• AC08401 (8) posts 11:50 am

  I can guarantee the "big dog" will never come and bite on my private parts. Thats because I don't commit crimes. Got it, idiot? When you commit a crime, resist arrest and fight with a police dog, you deserve to be bit. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS.

• shameonyou2 (12) posts 11:03 am

  It seem that this article was just to brief, was it to protect the guilty? Someone needs to check if the officers involved are blood relatives of captains and chiefs. This K-9 issue has been going on for sometime now so let me try to clear it up. Until the big dog comes and pounces on your private parts you won't understand. The reality of it all it just could happen to you or a love one.

• beachone (25) posts 10:45 am

  To be truthful I like this kind of thing, it gives AC and similar cities that mystic. Does anyone believe that corruption is new in AC or for that matter anywhere in this country or the world. Corruption will never go away, it occurred in the 1920's then again in the late 1980's with the savings and loan scandals then again this decade with banking and Wall Street, did anything change no. I honestly want to know what can be done? Send them to jail like Martha Stewart who is now making more money after prison than before! I dont know why so many on this message board get so worked up about corruption when we all know that it will never go away or stop. Sometimes I feel jealous that I didnt get rich over some of the crap people have pulled over the past 100 years. Kick back relax, take a chill pill go to your favorite casino have a drink and have fun. b1

• SouthJerseyGirl (44) posts 8:44 am

  Suburbia is quiet because we ceased to care the moment AC re-elected the Head Thug In Charge. AC had the opportunity to elect someone WITHOUT a criminal record, who doesn't owe the city that pays his salary hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nope. They decided that the best person to run the show was the one who caters to the criminals. You get what you deserve.

• Lew Carroll (122) posts 12:42 am

  "They should give the cops medals for their humanity." -- they did. first they melted the medals, bartered the dross for cash - money being fungible - and threw in gold-plated bennies and a lack of oversight by an A.C.P.D. chief who lives in..... Absecon. Thousands applied for a cushy patrolman's job. The city is more fortified than Bagram Air Base in Baghdad. As for Mooney, he refuses to ride the horse he's selling. No skin off his nose what happens in A.C. America's easiest, and best-paid P.D.: Atlantic City. As if you didn't know.

• hadenough (110) posts 12:19 am

  I heard the talking heads on the 7th floor are going to dismantle the drug unit too because too many drug dealers complained about their drugs and money being confiscated...And sometime in the future he is going to close down the PD and hire a private security firm to police the city....

• joe800 (27) posts 8:42 pm

  ..I was gonna try and introduce some common sense about not leaping to judgment and a person's right to due process into the mix ..but it's just not worth it tonight...I hope all you bashers don't ever find yourselves in need of rescue or on the wrong side of an accusation...it's a cold lonely feeling...

• njbourne (38) posts 7:25 pm

  Child molesting firefighters and thieving police officers...I wouldn't be surprised if they stole the DRUGS!.....only 8 comments for this story so far.....Surburbia is mighty silent

• Phantomfury (20) posts 5:55 pm

  Hey Bernie, I guess there are no corrupt politicians, doctors, lawyers, CFO's, CEO's. The whole world is full or corrupt people, I am sure there are many in your profession as well. Your ignorance is amazing!

• momo (17) posts 4:33 pm

  I find it hard to believe that an Atlantic City resident who's home was being searched with a search warrant had a pitbull puppy living in deplorable conditions, thats crazy. Animals taking care of animals?? This is insane, next youll be writing that they deal drugs and routinely shoot each other with guns. They should give the cops medals for their humanity.

• BernieSchwartz (464) posts 3:31 pm

  Cops are the most corrupt people in the U.S.A. Most think they are the judge and jury. What would you expect from high school graduates with power.

• TheTruthHurts (59) posts 12:03 pm

  They rescued the Dog, nice spin! I guess when they grab some suspects drugs and money and keep it for their own personal use its not a crime either, its just a rescue mission! Carnac "predicts NO ONE involved will have charges brought against them!" Too many family connections within the ACPD & ACPO for that to happen, It will be a case of "Deja Vue" just like the ACFD Tricky Dick Junior "Show & Touch" sex case!

• AC08401 (8) posts 10:10 am

  Word on the street is that the officer(s) "stole" a pitbull puppy that was living in deplorable conditions and was probably gonna be used for dog fighting. Some might call that a theft. I call it a rescue.

• pineypower (44) posts 9:30 am

  What's a drug raid without taking some booty along he way? Give the cops a break!

• maxfrisk (16) posts 7:20 am

  I agree Lew, its how they operate in City Hall. They know all about K9 dogs, don't like them!

• Lew Carroll (122) posts 3:22 am

  "City Business Administrator Michael Scott declined comment on the investigation Tuesday. "That's a police matter," he said. -- And so are K-9 dogs, moron. Your newfound reticence doesn't square with your weeks of interference previously. Too much blowback, eh?

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