Cop tried to trade help with charges for oral sex, prosecutor says

MONROE — A township police officer promised a woman he would help her with criminal charges in exchange for oral sex, authorities allege.

An official statement from the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office Monday announced the charges against Officer Robert E. Marzi, 29, saying he'd been accused of official misconduct.

It described a complaint signed against him Aug. 10 as accusing him of “an unauthorized exercise of his official functions with purpose to obtain a benefit to himself” on Jan. 17 of this year. It didn't detail what that "benefit" was.

But the criminal complaint against him describes his crime as exchanging sexual factors for help with the charges, according to a report by Philly.com.

The two-year officer with the Monroe Township Police Department has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case, the prosecutor's office said.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing other arrests in which Marzi was involved, Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said in the statement.

It wasn't clear from the announcement by the prosecutor's office or descriptions of the criminal complaint in news reports what the woman's alleged crime was, or whether her case was ultimately resolved.

“It is deeply regretful that a member of the Monroe Township Police Department has been charged with a crime," Monroe Police Chief John McKeown said in the statement released by the prosecutor's office. "Like all persons accused of a criminal act, this officer is entitled to due process of the law. I expect this to take time."

He said Monroe would continue to cooperate with the investigation, and would conduct its own administrative investigation.

Marzi has been on administrative leave since June 15, and is now suspended pending the outcome of the case.