Elmer cop suspended after threatening, profane Twitter rants

ELMER — A lieutenant with the Elmer Police Department has been suspended while his use of social media is reviewed after Capitol Police alerted the chief messages threatening journalists and a congressman were posted on his Twitter account.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story includes vulgar quotations and images of messages containing uncensored profanity.

Chief Patrick Bryan Jr. said he was contacted last Thursday after a Twitter account belonging to Lt. Steven Felice threatened congressman Seth Moulton from Massachusetts.

The chief said both he and the Salem County Prosecutor's Office were aware of the problems. Felice had previously said on Twitter his account and his phone had been hacked; the account was eventually deleted deleted.

"It's just something that has to be dealt with and we'll deal with the matter appropriately," Bryan said.

In addition to threatening the Massachusetts congressman, screen shots from his account over the past few months showed he also threatened journalists, including NBC's Chuck Todd, and CNN's Don Lemon, as well as other Twitter users.

Felice’s account told Todd, for instance, to “watch your back down there in Rockefeller Center” and warned Seth Moulton, the Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, that “your gonna get your ass beat.”

He told one woman on Twitter to “die bitch!!!!” and “Go kill yourself do it today.”

In January, he responded to an Obama Foundation post by saying: “Go **ck yourself you racist scumbag mother **cker.”

In 2004 he was indicted on charges of threatening to kill a woman while off duty during his time on the Millville Police Department. That incident cost him his job.

The chief added that the woman in the Millville incident had recanted her statement.

"That had nothing to do with his incident," he said. Felice had resigned from the Millville department in 2006 as part of a plea deal. He joined the Elmer department a year later and was promoted to lieutenant in 2014.

As of Monday morning, Bryan and Felice were listed on the department's website as the two people to contact in the administration.

Felice is listed in the state pension database as being enrolled in the public employee system, instead of the usual Police and Firemen’s Retirement System, earning $49,140 a year.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com