PRINCETON: Suspended boro police officer resigns

By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
   Sergeant Kevin Creegan has resigned from the Princeton Borough Police Force just as an administrative disciplinary proceeding against him was scheduled to commence this month.
   ”He did resign and the borough has accepted the resignation,” said Princeton Borough Police Chief Anthony Federico. Chief Federico said he was not at liberty to give further details on the circumstances because of the terms of Sgt. Creegan’s resignation.
   Scott Krasny, Sgt. Creegan’s lawyer, did not return a call seeking comment.
   Sgt. Creegan’s resignation ends his case with the borough which goes back a year, when he and two other borough police officers — Kenneth Riley and William Perez — were suspended with pay. Their cases were subsequently turned over to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office which conducted its own investigation and presented its findings before a grand jury.
   In September, the prosecutor’s office indicted Sgt. Riley on six felony charges for allegedly accessing his department’s video record database without authorization and showing other officers what he saw in order to adversely affect another officer’s standing.
   At the time of their suspension, Chief Federico said the officers were suspended after a complaint was filed by another unnamed officer. A spokesman for the State Policeman’s Benevolent Association said at the time the charges stemmed from the trio’s questioning of the manner in which another officer handled a motor vehicle stop involving a minority driver
   Patrolman Perez resigned from the force in mid-December, and charges are not being pursued in his case. The prosecutor’s office declined to indict Sgt. Creegan, who was the subject of a borough administrative proceeding until his resignation.
   Sgt. Creegan stopped receiving his paycheck on Jan. 29 under an agreement reached between his attorney and the borough, Chief Federico has previously said. An initial hearing in January as part of the administrative proceeding against Sgt. Creegan was halted because of concerns that confidential grand jury testimony related to his case could be made public at the hearing, which was open to the public at Sgt. Creegan’s request.
   Chief Federico said, under state law, the borough could only seek reimbursement for what it paid Sgt. Creegan during his suspension if he was found guilty of the charges against him. In resigning prior to his hearing, which would not proceed, Sgt. Creegan could not now be found guilty or compelled to reimburse the borough, Chief Federico said.