Hudson County Sheriff’s Office hires ex-officer who admitted fraud for civilian role

The Hudson County Sheriff’s Office hired a former officer who admitted short sale fraud in May 2023 to a $60,000 civilian role last month and his employer doesn’t want to talk about it.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Osbado Hernandez was hired by the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office as a seasonal assistant on February 2nd at an hourly rate of $28.85, a seasonal assistant at $29 per hour, before being hired for $60,000 a year as a bilingual community service worker on February 23rd.

The job posting was available for one week, between February 11th and February 18th, and notes that the job was only available to current Hudson County employees.

“Under supervision, performs the field and office work to promote local community resource programs designed to meet the needs of residents; provides referrals to other agencies; does other related work,” the job description says.

All of the aforementioned information was obtained via an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, which was specified to Hernandez after a prior request asking for a list of new hires under Sheriff Jimmy Davis, who took office this year, was denied.

“The Hudson County Sheriff’s Office does not maintain a list of employees by date of hire. To fulfill your OPRA request, the HCSO would have to create a document that is not kept in the ordinary course of business, which is not required under the OPRA statute,” the sheriff’s office said in response to the initial request.

From September 2015 to December 30th, 2015, in order to induce a bank to discharge a mortgage on a property in Keansburg, Hernandez made false statements in connection with a fraudulent short sale of the property, as HCV first reported at the time.

That included that he did not have any money to apply toward his mortgage delinquency and that he intended to vacate the property following the short sale.

According to the criminal complaint, Hernandez owed $252,357, including late fees, as of June 2015, about eight-and-a-half years after purchasing the property for $239,900.

He pleaded guilty to lying in connection to a fraudulent short sale back in May 2023 and was sentenced to five years of probation and $138,031.30 restitution in November of the same year.

Richie Rivera, the Penns Grove police director, former West New York police officer, private investigator, and law enforcement transparency advocate, said the hiring raises some serious questions.

“As to the spirit of hiring, this may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the allegations (conviction) of fraud raises mistrust and credibility issues, not for the individual, but for the hiring agency. On the other hand, people with convictions should integrate back into public service and are redeemable,” he began.

“The problematic aspects in this particular case is it recent and the person would be going back to the SAME law enforcement agency they left, which is ill-advised. It sends the wrong message about police accountability and the expectations of public confidence, as you’ve described the fact pattern.”

A county spokesman deferred comment to the sheriff’s office since they’re a separate agency, while Davis did not respond to multiple calls and voicemails seeking comment.