By Jim Lockwood
Star-Ledger
NEWARK, N.J. — A Morris County corrections officer has been accused of giving special treatment to a jail inmate in exchange for $60,000, Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced yesterday.
Lee C. Maimone, 42, of Mount Olive was charged with second-degree official misconduct.
The criminal complaint filed in Belleville Township Municipal Court last Thursday charges that Maimone, a Morris County sheriff’s officer who served as a corrections officer at the Morris County Jail, extended unauthorized special treatment to an inmate in expectation that, in return, he would receive the money.
Maimone allegedly accepted partial payment of several thousand dollars for the special treatment, authorities said.
“The alleged charges against Officer Maimone are serious and are a breach of the public’s trust. He is an embarrassment to his profession,” Morris County Sheriff Edward Rochford said in a statement. “If the allegations are proven true, he should receive the strongest punishment allowable under the law.”
Officials wouldn’t say whether the officer approached the inmate for the payment of if the inmate approached the officer. The inmate has not been charged in the incident, police said.
Maimone, who was released pending a hearing, was suspended without pay from his job after being charged. He began with the sheriff’s department on April 5, 2004, and his annual salary is $48,483, authorities said.
He is the second Morris County corrections officer to be charged with wrongdoing in the past week. In an unrelated case, Morris County corrections officer Lon Sainato was charged Sunday with sexually assaulting a man he was supervising at the Sheriff’s Labor Assistance Program, a community service program. That case is pending.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said in a statement he would continue to aggressively investigate official misconduct cases.
Maimone’s arrest stems from an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption Unit, Division of Criminal Justice and Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
Copyright 2009 Star-Ledger