New Jersey Trooper Indicted For Repeatedly Pulling Over Women to Ask Them Out

Eric Richardson

A New Jersey State Police trooper accused of improperly pulling over women repeatedly to ask them out was indicted Thursday on a half dozen charges, including official misconduct, the state attorney general’s office announced.

An internal investigation found that in November and December 2016, Eric Richardson, 32, of Camden pulled over female drivers and threatened to arrest them or offered to let them off if they didn’t hand over their phone numbers.

“We allege that the defendant used his authority as a police officer to harass two women and he then falsified official records to cover up his misconduct,” said Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “These are serious charges.”

The trooper, who was also accused of falsifying records to conceal these stops, was charged with criminal coercion, tampering with public records or information, falsifying or tampering with records, wrongful access/disclosure of information, obtaining information from a motor vehicle record, and official misconduct.

The Attorney General’s office said in one case, the trooper warned a driver her windows had an illegal tint and she was driving with expired registration but “allegedly attempted to win favor with her by not towing the vehicle and letting her drive away, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Richardson followed the driver and pulled her over again, “pressuring her” for her phone number, which he later used to text her, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

He pulled her over on a third occasion to ask if she was receiving his texts. Officials said he logged that stop as aiding a motorist.

In another instance, he threatened to arrest a female driver with a warrant out for her arrest after he’d pulled her over, even pulling out his handcuffs, if she didn’t give him her phone number, officials said.

He also texted that woman and reported that the traffic stop involved a man, according to officials.

Richardson also turned off the dashboard camera in his patrol car during some of the stops, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Two of the charges stem from a separate incident, in which Richardson is accused of illegally accessing an FBI database to obtain information on a woman who worked for a friend. He texted that friend photos of her driver history, officials said.

Richardson has been suspended since May.

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/nj_trooper_who_threatened_woman_with_arrest_to_get.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured