By: centraljersey.com
Sgt. Kenneth Riley will be back on the job today at the Princeton Borough Police Department, more than two years after he was suspended for an administrative probe by the department and a criminal investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
On Jan. 20, Judge Linda Feinberg of the Mercer County Superior Court reversed an earlier decision by a hearing officer in a Princeton Borough police disciplinary hearing and reinstated Sgt. Riley’s employment with the department effective immediately, according to a press release from the Princeton Borough Police Department.
"He was found guilty by a hearing officer and Judge Feinberg overturned it on appeal," said Chief David Dudek, who declined to answer any further questions on the matter.
A hearing officer is an outside person brought in to hear administrative matters and make judgments on them.
Calls to Sgt. Riley’s attorney, Jeffery Garrigan, were not returned by press time.
The officer, who had been off the job since March 2008, was indicted on six felony charges for allegedly accessing his department’s video record database without authorization and showing other officers what he saw to adversely affect another officer’s standing in September 2008.
Sgt. Riley, who was an officer for the department for 17 years when the charges were brought, was charged with two counts of computer criminal activity, two counts of unlawful access and disclosure of computer data and two counts of official misconduct.

