Two Guttenberg police officers resigned last year, with just one each getting suspended in North Bergen and West New York, respectively, while three were suspended in Union City, their annual major discipline reports show.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Guttenberg Police Officer Anthony Cosma forfeited his job in March to enter the a pre-trial intervention program over a theft by deception charge, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced in March.
“Several complaints were received alleging that Anthony Cosma had borrowed large sums of money from multiple people and failed to pay it back. Cosma was eventually charged with Theft By Deception for an amount in excess of $500, making it a third-degree crime,” his incident description says.
“Anthony Cosma entered into a Pretrial Intervention program and subsequently forfeited his position as a Police Officer with the Guttenberg Police Department.”
The only other major discipline noted in Guttenberg was for Police Officer Kareem Mansour, who eventually resigned prior to discipline being imposed for three separate incidents, a source familiar with the situation told HCV.
One was for lying to his immediate supervisor and internal affairs investigators about responding to an incident outside of their jurisdiction, being untruthful about who owned the residence he was staying in while on sick leave, and then fabricating the details of a car crash he was in.
“Kareem Mansour was involved in a motor vehicle pursuit. In his investigation report, Mansour stated that the vehicle was ‘driving in an extremely erratic manner, endangering the welfare of the public,'” according to a description of the incident.
“Video of the incident was reviewed and the vehicle was not driving in the manner described by Mansour. The vehicle was maintaining its lane and keeping up with the flow of traffic.”
In the neighboring North Bergen and West New York Police Departments, there was not much major discipline to report, with just one notable suspension issued, one of which had already been made public by Suarez.
“Police Officer Roberto Gonzalez was charged with Sexual Assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2C(1)) a crime of the second degree for behavior that occurred while off duty. This case is still pending,” the North Bergen report says, which does not include the length of the suspension.
As for West New York Police Capt. Erwin Moreno, he was charged with stealing over $60,000 from the local youth academy in June and the incident description says he has been suspended until the case is resolved (it is still pending).
Over at the Union City Police Department, two officers were suspended for 30 days last year, while one was suspended for 15 days, their annual major discipline report states.
Police Officer Daniel Infante was suspended for 30 days after being arrested for driving under the influence in Montvale, while Officer Ulises Torres received the same penalty for “conduct unbecoming of a public employee, neglect of duty, and other sufficient cause.”
No other details were immediately available, while Sgt. Alexander Armas received a 15-day suspension after he “utilized a secure database to retrieve personal information.”
The Weehawken Police Department did not report any major discipline in 2023, nor did any of their counterparts in West Hudson: Kearny, East Newark, and Harrison.
