The years-long saga and investigation into three New Jersey police officers is finally coming to a close. But although a judge has officially ruled to fire the cops for racism and bribery, the department now has to answer for the millions worth of paychecks that the cops received while suspended.
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The scandal involving Clark County Police Chief Pedro Matos, Sgt. Joseph Teston and Capt. Vincent Concina began in 2019, Police 1 reported. The officers were suspected of using racial slurs while on duty, which prompted an official investigation in 2020.
The secret investigation relied on whistleblower Lt. Antonio Manata’s recordings of Matos and Teston, the outlet also reported. In the tapes, the two officers were heard causally using the N-word and other slurs targeting Black people.
Matos once talked about reinvestigating a 2017 incident involving a black puppet hung at a local high school. On the call, the officer promised to “prove that them f**king n****rs did it,” according to investigation records obtained by the New York Post. Another bombshell tape with Teston comparing a Black suspect to a “f**king animal” caught the department’s attention. Teston went on to call the suspect a “big f**king monkey head.”
In efforts to hide a bubbling race scandal, a third officer, Capt. Concina, conspired to pay $400,000 in hush-money to Lt. Manata in 2020, according to NJ.com. There’s no public record of Concina using racial slurs on the recorded tapes, but the bribery and retaliation attempt eventually led to state Attorney General Matthew Platkin recommending Concina’s suspension and demotion.
Matos and Teston were also suspended but were still receiving paychecks as the investigation continued, according to reports. AG Platkin called for Matos and Teston to be fired in November 2023, but delays prolonged the process after they appealed their suspension.
The three collected over $2,618,585 in combined salaries over the years– including annual department raises, NJ.com reported. In other words, New Jersey taxpayers have been paying the suspended officers over $2.6 million since July 2020. But on Dec. 18, Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh tossed their lawsuit to be reinstated and got the ball rolling again on their termination, according to Police 1.
Democrat John Greaves used the ongoing scandal during his unsuccessful campaign for mayor last year. “It’s a lot of money,” he said according to NJ.com. “That’s money we could spend on other things.”
The case marked yet another chapter in the city’s long-running racism scandal. Ex-Republican Mayor Sal Bonaccorso was exposed for using racist language back in 2022. Despite his documented history of using slurs and sexist language, the longtime politician was reelected for a seventh term in 2024 but resigned amid a public corruption probe, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
Mayor Angel Albanese took over in January 2025, Tap Into Clark reported. She was officially elected in November.
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