A North Bergen Municipal Court judge who admitted to groping in a woman in his law office back in 2019 is now facing a four-count complaint from the Supreme Court of New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct in connection to the incident.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Nino Falcone, formerly a part-time municipal court judge in North Bergen, was suspended without pay after being charged with criminal sexual contact by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in September 2019 when he was 78 years old.
At the time, he was accused of grabbing a woman’s breasts without her consent while they were at his private law office, located at located at 7807 Bergenline Ave. in North Bergen, on August 29th of the same year.
Now, the ACJC complaint says that Falcone told the woman, identified only as AC who he knew because of her physician employer who had been a client for years, “let me touch you, let me play with you” as squeezed her breast after rubbing her back and holding her arm.
After being put in touch with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit, the victim recorded a conversation with Falcone where he acknowledged his conduct and apologized.
“Using a recorded undercover telephone line located in a station house interview room, A.C. placed a call to Respondent. During their ensuing conversation, Respondent admitted to A.C. that he touched her ‘inappropriately’ and apologized to her,” the complaint says.
Eventually, Falcone was entered into the Pretrial Intervention Program and the matter was dismissed on May 18th, 2021, according to the complaint.
The ACJC contends that the judge did not observe high standards of conduct, respect and comply with the law, avoid impropriety, and “conduct their extrajudicial activities in a manner that would not demean the judicial office” during this incident.
North Bergen spokesman Phil Swibinski said that Falcone retired on August 30th, 2020 and had been suspended without pay since the allegations surfaced the year prior.
