By NYIER ABDOU
Newark Star-Ledger
SOMERSET COUNTY, N.J. — A Somerset County jury found a state corrections officer guilty of snorting cocaine in the parking lot of a Bound Brook go-go bar.
After about nine hours of deliberation, the panel on Thursday declared 41-year-old Kevin Scott guilty of third-degree drug possession and a disorderly persons offense of possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Scotch Plains man faces up to five years in state prison when he is sentenced.
The verdict also cost Scott his job, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said.
Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman signed an order compelling Scott to forfeit his position, and he is forever barred from holding an official position.
Scott was a senior corrections officer at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility in Clinton Township, in Hunterdon County, for nearly three years when he was arrested in March 2007, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was suspended without pay from his $57,448-a-year job, pending the outcome of the criminal case, according to DOC records.
Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Hawkes handled the case for the state. Michael Campagna defended Scott during the four-day trial, that started with jury selection Monday in Somerville.
Jurors filed into Coleman’s courtroom Thursday morning after they requested a read-back of testimony from Bound Brook police Officer Gary Ulmer. Ulmer testified that he witnessed Scott and another man, Felton Jones, 39, of Fanwood, enter Jones’ car in the parking area behind Torpedo’s bar around 11 p.m. on March 9, 2007, and saw Jones snorting what appeared to be cocaine from his hands.
At the time, Ulmer was in plain clothes and was conducting surveillance from the train platform of the commuter lot on Main Street, which is adjacent to the rear parking area of Torpedo’s, he said. Ulmer approached the car and identified himself, after which he saw Jones, seated in the passenger seat, wiping a white powdery substance from his mustache and shirt, Ulmer told the court. At the same time, Scott, who was in the driver’s side, moved his hand away from his chin area and quickly reached down between the driver’s seat and the door, Ulmer said.
Ulmer said he repeatedly ordered Scott to show both his hands but Scott did not remove his hand from beside the door until Ulmer threatened to spray him with pepper spray. At that time, police backup arrived and the men were taken into custody. Ulmer then retrieved a wax fold of cocaine wedged next to the door, he said. Another wax fold with cocaine residue was found in a cigarette box in the car, police said.
Both men were charged with third-degree drug possession and released on bail, police said.
On July 27, 2007, Jones pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to three years probation in October.
Copyright 2008 Newark Morning Ledger Co.