NJ police chief accused of pooping on floors, lewdness, killing pet, drugging coffee

🔵 Hostile work environment, retaliation claims
🔵 NJ police chief accused of indecent behavior
🔵 Five officers plan to sue town

NORTH BERGEN — At least five police officers are suing the township, saying their police chief was allowed to run wild with reckless and indecent behavior.

Leaders of the municipality, where the powerful mayor is a retired state senator, have responded by supporting the police chief, saying that no allegations have yet been proven true.

Police Chief Robert Farley took over the department in February 2024 in the town of 59,000 wedged between Secaucus and Weehawken.

He quickly appointed Lt. Alex Guzman and Special Capt. Michael Derin as his administrative aides, according to a timeline among documents submitted by the 55-year-old Derin.

The litigation was first reported by NJ.com.

Both men have now filed notices of tort claim, which describe incidents which they say the chief would later call “jokes”:

▪️ Repeated pooping into office wastebaskets and on the floor

▪️ Exposing himself after visiting the bathroom and commenting on his genitals

▪️ Spiking a community coffee pot with adderall and viagra

▪️ Hiding a ghost pepper in a 1-year-old’s sandwich (Guzman's son)

▪️ Microwaving hot peppers/sauce, sometimes in officers’ food, causing evacuation

▪️ Ordering anyone to report said evacuation as a pepper spray malfunction

▪️ Putting spray paint cans under car tires, leaving them to be rolled over and explode

▪️ Throwing items in a rage — staplers, picture frames — ripping a TV off a wall

▪️ Throwing eggs at an office door

▪️ Poisoning an officer’s fish with medication, killing them

Guzman filed his first notice of an impending lawsuit in January.

In recent court filings, he said his reassignment from Farley’s office has “provided some relief.”

“It is refreshing not to have to step into the bathroom and cringe in fear that I may step on human feces because I forgot to check the floor,” Guzman said in a March filing.

“These actions are not only unprofessional but have created a hostile work environment that undermines morale and safety,” he said.

Guzman said he is also cooperating with the Attorney General’s Office in an investigation into police corruption.

“I am deeply concerned that Chief Farley may go to extreme lengths,” Guzman said in his court filing. “including engaging in criminal behavior such as backdating reports, intimidating witnesses or fabricating charges against his adversaries to protect himself from legal consequences.”

Father-son officer claims

Special Capt. Derin said that he was at the Attorney General’s Office reporting corruption when he received a call on his cell phone. He was fired by another captain named in all five officers’ notices.

The older Derin said that his son, also on the force, was retaliated against.

The 27-year-old son said that he was ordered by Chief Farley to do the chief’s daughter’s high school work.

Detective Derin said he saw Farley put the medication into the coffee pot and saw him put a cup of hot sauce in the microwave, prompting emergency evacuation.

Derin said after the chaos, the chief allegedly ordered an officer to go to the armory and say pepper spray canisters had “gone bad" and were leaking as a coverup for the incident.

The younger Derin also raised concerns about "false overtime," describing in his notice at least one blank sheet submitted by a coworker for 8 hours of overtime that had made it through a corporal and been endorsed by the chief.

Officer Rasheed Siyam said he was racially taunted for being supportive of his colleagues and claims a hostile work environment, retaliation for whistleblowing and civil rights violations.

Officer Christopher Bowen filed paperwork claiming he was retaliated against for supporting Guzman, transferred from a day shift to one that runs 2 p.m. until midnight.

North Bergen officials respond, calls complaints 'suspicious'

On Thursday, the township said that it had referred all allegations to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office for review and "we understand that they were subsequently sent to the New Jersey State Attorney General's Office."

"The township will respect the outcome of that investigation, and at this point none of these allegations have been proven to be true," the township's statement says.

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