By Kibret Markos
The Record
BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — Prior allegations of sexual misconduct will not be used as evidence against a suspended Garfield police officer who is awaiting trial on similar charges, a judge in Hackensack ruled Tuesday.
Todd Mosby, 46, was indicted last year on charges that he sexually touched a 16-year-old girl in his patrol car while on duty. The indictment also accuses him of groping a 20-year-old woman.
For his impending trial, Bergen County prosecutors sought a judge’s permission to introduce evidence of prior acts by Mosby, who was accused more than 20 years ago of having sexual conversations with a 16-year-old girl.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello said that allegation was investigated internally by the Orange Police Department, where Mosby worked at the time.
Mosby was never charged, but the fact that the allegations were made and investigated is relevant evidence at a trial in which Mosby’s character could possibly be an issue, Calviello said.
Mosby’s lawyer, Patrick Toscano, said the prior allegations involve an incident decades ago in which a friend asked Mosby to look after his daughter briefly. While under Mosby’s watch, the girl lifted her shirt and exposed herself to her boyfriend, after which Mosby had a conversation with her, and the officer later gave the girl “a peck on the cheek,” he said.
Any accusation of improper conduct was investigated and “nothing came of it,” Toscano said.
State Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia ruled that the old accusation should not be admitted at trial because it was not sufficiently relevant, not similar to the pending charges, nor recent.
Prior convictions of defendants generally cannot be admitted at trial because the information is considered prejudicial. Judges also use a strict standard before they allow evidence of “prior bad acts,” which include past accusations of criminal or improper behavior.
“I want this trial to be as fair to Mr. Mosby and to the state as possible,” Venezia said.
Mosby had been suspended with pay since his arrest. His pay was also suspended after he was indicted in July 2007.
Authorities said Mosby had sexual conversations with a 20-year-old woman and groped her on one occasion in June 2006.
Less than two months after that, he picked up a 16-year-old girl and her boyfriend from behind a recreation building at night, dropped the boy at home and returned to the secluded area with the girl, where they spent close to three hours, authorities said.
The girl went home and told her mother that Mosby talked to her about sexual acts and inappropriately touched her.
The indictment charges Mosby with official misconduct, criminal sexual contact and unauthorized transporting of a minor. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Copyright 2008 The Record