Police lieutenant suspected of stealing drugs from Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office evidence room – NBC New York

A New Jersey county prosecutor’s lieutenant allegedly stole drugs from an evidence room and then tried to cover his tracks.

Kevin Mathews is charged with tampering with physical evidence, possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, and criminal mischief, police said. The 47-year-old has been on administrative leave from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office since Nov. 3 as the state attorney general and Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigate the missing drugs.

“As alleged, the defendant’s actions represent a shocking and brazen disregard for the law by a senior official sworn to uphold the law,” Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “Working in law enforcement is a position of public trust. When officers unlawfully violate that trust, we will hold them accountable.”

An investigation revealed that Mathews, a member of the department’s Special Victims Unit, had searched police databases for drug cases and recorded them in the Paramus County Prosecutor’s Office’s primary evidence archive. . His ruse lasted from October 2022 to November 2023, even though his role at BCPO did not give him any permission to access drug evidence.

He is said to have taken numerous items that tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl at a New Jersey State Police drug lab.

Investigators said Mathews was seen entering and exiting the prosecutor’s office carrying a bag large enough to hold signed-out drugs. He stored the drugs outside of authorized storage areas, and some of the drugs were returned to storage in a significantly different condition than when he took them.

But that didn’t stop him from trying to disguise an amount of drugs equal to the amount he took from the storage room, prosecutors said.

In addition, the investigation revealed that two razor blades were found in BCPO Matthew’s office, both of which tested positive for cocaine.

A review of Matthew’s bank records revealed a series of cash deposits at different banks on different dates around the same time the drugs were taken from the safe, police said. This pattern of deposits was allegedly made to avoid the bank’s requirement to report daily cash transactions exceeding $10,000.

If convicted, Matthew could spend decades in prison. Attorney information for Matthew is not available at this time. The BCPO did not address questions regarding the employment of police officers, referring all questions to the Attorney General’s Office.