‘LEAKY BAG’
Judge warns AG’s Office: Trenton cop’s child porn case headed for dismissal
TRENTON » Accused kiddie porn cop Paul Marinelli may be getting off the hook.
The assignment judge in Middlesex County warned prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office he’ll dismiss the case next month if they don’t move on it soon.
Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas offered the shocking threat during a status hearing in late May, when he told a fill-in for Deputy Attorney General Brian Faulk the case had been slated for dismissal since November, according to the recording obtained by The Trentonian.
Faulk’s fill-in told the judge the office was still awaiting “forensic” results before proceeding on the cop’s case, which an Attorney General’s Office spokesman said had yet to be indicted by a grand jury.
“That’s what I was told back in October of last year,” the judge shot back, noting Faulk’s stand-in was left “holding the leaky bag.”
“You better tell folks if something doesn’t happen by August, it’s getting dismissed,” Rivas ordered. “It’ll be a whole year in August.”
The Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting Marinelli’s case as part of a massive crackdown on 79 accused child sex and child porn predators dubbed “Operation Safety Net.”
Authorities trumpeted the arrests in a news release in December that included mugshots and a lengthy breakdown of the case with a statement from then-AG Christopher Porrino slamming defendants like Marinelli for lurking “in the shadows of the internet and social media, looking for opportunities to sexually assault young children or to view such unspeakable assaults by sharing child pornography.”
Marinelli, who turned 53 on June 29 of this year, was arrested on the childporn charges in September of last year and sent to Middlesex County Jail for a day following his arrest, police said.
Despite providing a taped confession, Marinelli was released on his own recognizance Sept. 7 without needing to post any bail.
The 22-year veteran started working on the Trenton Police force in 1995. As a cop assigned to the patrol unit, he earned an annual salary of $102,900. He remains suspended without pay, officials confirmed.
Marinelli was found with 15 images in his email account that “depicted prepubescent” girls from infants to 12-year-olds “nude or involved is sex acts,” according to a redacted copy of the complaint obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request.
“One image depicts a young girl having sexual intercourse with an adult male” the complaint reads. “Fourteen of the images depict nude prepubescent girls.”
Marinelli met with detectives Sept. 6 at the Ewing Township Police Department headquarters where he admitted the email account belonged to him and that he “emailed images to himself,” the redacted court documents stated.
Authorities had been tipped off to Marinelli’s disturbing interests in November 2016 when state police received information from a retired captain that the Trenton cop’s Apple email account contained at least two files of child pornography, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Apple then provided state police the contents of Marinelli’s email account in response to a communications data warrant and the 15 images were discovered, the complaint states.
A search warrant was also executed at Marinelli’s Middlesex County residence on Sept. 6 and three computers and six cellphones were seized.
Following his arrest, police said the seized items would be “subject to further examination.” The results of that forensic examination are likely what’s holding up the case.
Despite his taped admission, Marinelli pleaded “not guilty” to the child pornography offense in court Sept. 7, his attorney, David Schroth, previously told The Trentonian.
The attorney wasn’t available to comment last week, but he previously called Marinelli a “good man” and “good person.”
“He’s been a good police officer for more than 20 years,” Schroth previously said. “He’s served our country in Desert Storm and as a veteran who was honorably discharged, these allegations are certainly very unfortunate and I certainly intend to defend him aggressively and make sure this case works out.”
Oddly enough, while the AG’s office has taken its sweet time prosecuting Marinelli’s criminal case, it went to bat for him fighting against this newspaper’s public records lawsuit brought against the Division of Criminal Justice and records custodian Edward Augustyn, after officials provided illegally redacted copies of the criminal complaint.
Originally, the Division of Criminal Justice blacked-out Marinelli’s address in South Brunswick on documents it released.
Addresses are always included in charging documents and are almost always provided without governmental fuss. The Trentonian has routinely obtained and published suspects’ addresses and sought to do the same in this case. But the AG’s office took exception in this case because it involved a law enforcement officer, going so far as to suggest the newspaper may be held liable if someone exacted “vigilante justice.”
C.J. Griffin, the attorney who represented The Trentonian, fired back against the AG’s claim that the address was private. In short, Griffin argued the cop’s address was public just like other suspects arrested on criminal charges.
Griffin said the AG’s reasons for withholding the cop’s address made “absolutely no sense” and dismissed “speculative fear” that releasing it would lead to “vigilante justice” from those who may harass the cop. Griffin also pointed to a failed Assembly bill from last year that specifically sought to exempt law enforcement officers’ addresses from future public disclosure. The bill didn’t make it out of committee in the Senate.
Mercer County Assignment Judge Mary Jacobson seemed “frustrated” over AG officials’ push to keep Marinelli’s address private, according to court papers. The judge was confounded because the address was already readily accessible to the public in online court records.
Marinelli is listed in charging documents as living at an address on George’s Road in South Brunswick, according to the unredacted charging documents released to The Trentonian.
He remains free while awaiting the resolution of his case.
Four defendants have already pleaded guilty to charges related to Operation Safety Net, AG spokesman Peter Aseltine said. He didn’t address the possibility of Marinelli’s case being tossed on a technicality.