By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Two former Princeton Township police officers have settled for $200,000 their nearly four-year-old lawsuit in which they claimed they were forced to retire amid the illegal gun trade scandal that toppled former chief Mark Emann roughly six years ago.
The council on Monday is due to approve a settlement ending the suit brought by ex-Lt. Michael Henderson and Corporal Arthur S. Villaruz, although the pay out will come through the town’s insurance carrier. The lawyer for the former officers, Gina Mendola Longarzo, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Mayor Liz Lempert, a member of the township committee back when the scandal erupted, on Monday declined to elaborate on any specifics of the settlement. The governing body is due to discuss the matter in closed session.
“I don’t want to discuss the details of it until after council’s had a chance to speak tonight,” she told reporters at her regular press conference.
It was not immediately clear how much of the $200,000 the two men will share, but the amount covers attorney’s fees.
The settlement seeks to be the final word of what had been a dark chapter for the department and the township starting in 2010. Mr. Emann had implicated himself, Mr. Villaruz and Mr. Henderson to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office concerning an illegal trade of an antique, department-owned M-16 rifle with a gun dealer back in 2007. The chief had received two weapons back as part of that arrangement.
Mr. Villaruz and Mr. Henderson denied any wrongdoing in the matter, but the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office brought administrative charges against them for their alleged roles. Neither ever was charged criminally.
Both retired from the force through an agreement that saw the Prosecutor’s Office drop the case, although the two men claimed they were coerced into doing so. For his part, Mr. Emann avoided criminal prosecution by taking probation.
All three men left the department in December 2010.
Mr. Villaruz and Mr. Henderson subsequently sued in Mercer County Superior Court in December 2012, claiming they were being denied $30,000 and $40,000 in terminal leave and unused vacation and “other” time owed them. They further had alleged the township was refusing to turn over property of theirs.
This story will be updated as details become available.
