The Town of Guttenberg agreed to settle a police retaliation lawsuit with an aspiring cop for $39,900 last month, according to court documents. 
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
In a lawsuit filed in Hudson County Superior Court on August 13, 2013, Brian Dorador, a former auxiliary police officer in West New York, said Guttenberg police continually harassed him after his sister broke up with Officer Joseph Kesilica.
As a result, Kesilica had “a personal vendetta” against Dorador and he and other officers in the department conspired to have Dorador arrested for false charges – such as impersonating a police officer twice in 2011.
By October of the same year, the defendants allegedly put out a police bulletin identifying Dorador as “armed and dangerous,” however, after being pulled over by West New York police, he was not charged with any crimes.
As a result of the continued harassment, Dorador, through his attorney Louis Zayas, said that he was denied a chance to become a police officer in Baltimore, despite being in the final stages of the interview process.
In addition to Kesilica, then-Captain (now Public Safety Director) Joel Magenheimer, Sgt. Jeff Lugo, Sgt. Juan Barrera, Officer Laura Sorto and investigator Joseph Terello are also named in the suit.
The settlement agreement, which was signed and dated on December 19, 2016 – the date of the most recent Guttenberg council meeting – entitles Dorador to $39,900 and the town does not admit to any wrongdoing as a result of the settlement.
Also at the December 19 Guttenberg council meeting, former Mayor Dave Della Donna took the governing body to task over what he felt was an improper suspension of Officer Francesca De Lucia.
A copy of the lawsuit and settlement agreement can be read here.
