State tells Vineland to put fired police captain back on job, pay him back wages

VINELAND — The New Jersey Civil Service Commission is ordering Vineland to immediately reinstate fired police Capt. Adam Austino, along with any outstanding back pay and benefits.

A March 20 commission order completely adopts the findings of state Administrative Law Judge Catherine A. Tuohy, who presided in Austino's appeal. Her initial decision on Feb. 5 ordered Austino’s removal on Nov. 15, 2021 to be reversed in full, and held the city liable for any “reasonable” defense legal fees attorney Katherine Hartman submits.

In its decision in Austino’s case, the Civil Service Commission dismissed arguments from Vineland that Tuohy had reached an arbitrary decision. Instead, it complimented the judge for providing “eminently detailed findings and conclusions” in a decision that ran to 111 pages.

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Vineland has not commented on the ruling.

The Austino matter is the second bout Vineland has lost this year at the commission.

In January, the commission told Vineland to reinstate fire police Chief Rudy Beu. However, Vineland has taken new legal action against Beu to keep him from returning.

Austino and Beu, who became chief in January 2017, both claim they were illegally targeted for dismissal as acts of retaliation. Vineland fired Beu on Nov. 15, 2021. Both men were at odds with Police Benevolent Association 266 leaders and members, who were supporters of Mayor Anthony Fanucci.

In November 2018, the commission decision states, then-PBA attorney Douglas Long shared with the city a draft lawsuit the union had prepared against Austino. The decision describes Long as a friend of the mayor.

The PBA draft lawsuit alleged retaliations or illegal treatments of officers. An internal city investigation then started. The lawsuit was never filed, the decision states.

Vineland ultimately issued Austino a Final Notice of Disciplinary Action dated Oct. 21, 2022. It listed four charges: Other sufficient causes for improper employment practices – retaliation and/or disparate treatment; discrimination that effects equal employment opportunity; conduct unbecoming a public employee; and unbecoming conduct – a common law claim.

Tuohy wrote that, in no charge, had Vineland been able to substantiate its allegations. And no witness testified they “suffered an adverse employment action” because of Austino, she also wrote.

The witness list for Austino, who also testified, included Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae; Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Raymond Cavagnaro; and then-Associate City Solicitor Michael Benson.

The Prosecutor’s Office had investigated issues related to Austino, Beu, and their accusers.

The witness list for Vineland included Lt. Brian Armstrong, Det. Sgt. Scott O’Neill, Capt. Gregory Pacitto, City Solicitor Richard Tonetta, outside investigative attorney Todd Gelfand, Officer David Cavagnaro, Lt. Christopher Landi, Lt. Adam Shaw, and Lt. Leonard Wolf.

What issues set Vineland police against each other

The decision includes testimony summaries outlining numerous issues, from the often overlapping perspectives of different witnesses, underlying the internal feuding and allegations.

One issue from 2016 involved chronic operating problems with police cruiser mobile video recorders and efforts to fix them. At times, it was learned, headquarters personnel were able to listen to what was going on in cruisers, to the consternation of officers and the PBA.

Then-Chief Timothy Codispoti ordered the live stream audio option turned off. But the system was found afterward still to function to some degree.

Austino was blamed by some officers for the video's audio system staying active. The decision states that in an interviewe with the Prosecutor’s Office, which found no criminal activity was involved, Wolf said Austino was “very ethical and credible” and turning on the audio system would have been “completely out of character” for him.

Another issue was “the Soda Fund,” described as a small, long-operating police discretionary spending account. Testimony was that paying for holiday parties was one use, but also hotel accommodations. Money from a soda machine and scrap sales of brass casings from the police firing range were put in it. Austino objected to the brass sales and tried to stop them.

Another issue, one that brought in the Prosecutor’s Office, involved officers finding an alleged bag of drugs on a suspect held at the police station. The decision says the bag was hidden, if ineffectively, in the man's lower bodily orifice. The Prosecutor’s Office determined that how the bag was found and seized constituted an illegal strip search or cavity search, but left it with Vineland to handle it in an administrative review.

The decision states then-Lt. Pedro Casiano, who now is the police chief, was the station commander. Assistant City Solicitor Michael Benson, in an August 2017 email to the city solicitor about the search, said Casiano gave an exculpatory version of what happened that did not correspond with other accounts.

Benson stated there were "some truthfulness questions concerning Lt. Casiano's denial of certain facts during his IA interview with Lt. Wolf.”

The decision states that the Benson email helped undermine a city claim that Austino, as part of an Internal Affairs investigation, had no reason to support disciplining Casiano over the incident.

Testimony also covered a June 2017 incident in which Austino ordered a man arrested on a disorderly conduct charge. The man reportedly was using foul language toward police, which is not a crime in itself. Pacitto, a sergeant then, was not at the scene but later officially raised concerns about whether the charge was justified, the decision states. Austino was exonerated by an Internal Affairs investigation.

The decision states that Gelfand testified that his investigation led him to conclude the department had two factions, which he called Team A and Team B. Belfand meant the terms to describe “associations of people who look out for each other and try to (hurt) the people on the other team.”

Gelfand, whose firm has been paid at least $245,828 for his work, said Team A was built around Beu, Austino and then-Lt. Matthew Finley as well as, "sometimes," Tom Riordan.

Gelfand said Team B was built around PBA members. He specifically named Pacitto, Landi, Shaw, Wolf, Armstrong, Ron DeMarchi, Richard Burke, and John Gabriel as Team B members. The decision states that Pacitto is a close friend of the mayor.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com. Support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Vineland loses battle to get rid of police Capt. Adam Austino