newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The State Police Monday suspended two troopers and reassigned the commander of the Totowa Station as part of the agency’s probe into what is now being described as an unauthorized, high-speed escort of sports cars to Atlantic City on March 30.

Authorities have also opened a second investigation into a similar escort in 2010 that Gov. Chris Christie and State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes were aware of that year.

The state Attorney General’s Office issued a release that Sgt. 1st Class Nadir Nassry, 47 of Phillipsburg, an assistant commander at the Totowa Station, and Trooper Joseph Ventrella, 28, of Bloomingdale, who is assigned to a tactical patrol unit, have been suspended for their role in the March 30 incident. Nassry has been on the force for 25 years, and Ventrella for six years.

The commander of the Totowa Station has been transferred until more information about his potential role in the involvement can be determined.

"We will not tolerate any conduct by a member of the State Police that puts the public in jeopardy, as this unauthorized caravan had the potential to do," Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said in a statement issued Monday evening. "We are thoroughly investigating this incident, and those responsible will face serious discipline."

No charges or motor vehicle summonses were issued, the Attorney General’s office stated.

Lt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman, told The Star-Ledger the investigation will not be limited to the troopers’ involvement, but will also examine anyone else’s participation.

Fuentes said in a statement "those responsible will be held fully accountable. The acts indicated during the early stages of this investigation are squarely against the principles of the New Jersey State Police. As troopers, we cannot require the public to obey laws that we are not willing to uphold for everyone equally."

Christie told reporters Fuentes understands he must take responsibility for misconduct that happens on his watch, but he added that he did not think the superintendent knew about the escort and he will leave the investigation up to state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa.

"I have no regrets about keeping Col. Fuentes on as superintendent of the State Police," Christie told reporters. "He’s done a very good job in the time I’ve been here and before I got here. So I have no regrets. Leadership isn’t about getting it perfect. Leadership is about when you see a problem fixing it."

Christie distanced himself from the developing scandal. The state’s highest ranking elected officials said it’s not his job anymore to oversee law enforcement, but added that incidents like that of March 30 keep his job interesting.

"I said to Mary Pat, ‘That’s why this job is so interesting,’" Christie told reporters. "You don’t wake up in the morning and say maybe what will happen today is we’ll have state troopers leading Lamborghinis and Porches down the Parkway at 110 miles per hour and then block intersections for them so they won’t have to wait for lights."

At a news conference in Atlantic City, Chiesa told reporters, "We’re obviously going to do a full review and investigation of this to find out who was involved and how it happened and to address it."

He declined to answer other questions, repeating that the matter is under review. He told reporters he was not aware of the State Police escort from 2010.