NJ woman: Cops verbally, sexually abused me, and I have the nude pics to prove it

A New Jersey woman says police officers verbally and sexually abused her — then trumped up drug charges to get a hold of her phone, delete messages and cover it all up.

The allegations are in a federal lawsuit filed by Angela Schaeffer of Rockaway Township Wednesday and made public Monday.

In the lawsuit, she says that in the year and a half leading up to her May, 2014 arrest, she and then-Roxbury officer Thomas Van Houten were in touch because she was a confidential informant for both Roxbury and neighboring Hopatcong.

She says Van Houten sent sexually explicit text messages and forwarded nude images of himself — repeatedly pressuring her into sexual liaisons and threesomes with him and another woman or women.

The lawsuit alleges Van Houten abused his position for sex. It also says fellow Roxbury Officer Richard Ricco and Hopatcong officer Ryan Tracey all verbally abused her.

And Schaeffer alleges the trio disclosed her identity to the very people she was helping police investigate as retribution for her complaints — putting her in danger.

"For the most part, the salacious aspect of this came from Van Houten," Schaeffer's attorney, Jeffrey M. Patti, told New Jersey 101.5. "The other misconduct — Rico and Tracey — they’re allowing this to happen, and they’re abusing their authority."

The lawsuit alleges that Rico and Tracey trumped up charges against Schaefer leading to her May 9, 2014 arrest on drug charges. During that arrest, it says, they deleted messages that incriminated them, Van Houten and others not named in the suit.

But Patti says Schaeffer had backups of the messages. The lawsuit doesn't go into detail about their specific contents, but it does describe some of the verbal attacks Schaeffer said she suffered during her arrest.

"Rico told Schaeffer 'you should have shot yourself and put yourself out of your misery,'" the lawsuit alleges. "Tracey repeatedly called Schaefer a 'piece of s--t,' scum of the earth, and suggest(ed) that she should OD."

Patti said the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office eventually dropped the charges against his client — but not before she'd sent a week in jail and eventually posted a $10,000 bail.

According to Patti, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office investigated Schaeffer's allegations against Van Houten, but closed the case without ever bringing charges. He resigned after the the Schaeffer filed an internal affairs complaint, Patti said.

Patti said he'd seen the MCPO letter telling Schaeffer the case was closed.

Patti said he believed Hopatcong conducted an internal investigation regarding Tracey, but no charges were brought, and no action was taken against Ricco.

Messages left for Tracey and Ricco at their police departments Monday had not yet been returned. Van Houten could not be reached.

Messages left for the Morris and Sussex County Prosecutor's Offices Monday afternoon have not yet been returned.

The lawsuit also names Hopatcong Police Chief Robert Brennan, Roxbury Police Chief James Simonetti, as well as the municipalities, looking to hold them responsible for not properly overseeing the officers.

Patti said although the lawsuit doesn't yet delineate the contents of the messages to his client, they contain "rather substantial information — including photographs, and more than suggestive sexual content."