A fast-rising NJ police sergeant is now accused of trying to influence an internal investigation

⚠️ A Garfield police sergeant is charged with witness tampering after an April text message.

➡️ Prosecutors say he asked another officer to lie during an internal affairs interview.

🔴 The arrest comes after a rapid rise through the department, including a 2024 promotion.

GARFIELD — A city police sergeant is facing a criminal charge of trying to pressure an investigation.

Anthony Pizzi is accused of sending a text to another officer on April 16, while serving as a supervisor, and asking him to lie in an internal affairs interview.

The 30-year-old Pizzi was arrested last week and charged with third-degree tampering with witnesses.

Promoted in 2024 after standout civil service exam performance

He was first hired in January 2019 and attended the Bergen County Police Academy.

Pizzi had the highest New Jersey Civil Service Sergeant Test score in the Department and one of the highest in the State — and was promoted in 2024 to Sgt.

Online records show last year, Pizzi had a six-figure salary, earning more than $164,000.

Other New Jersey police misconduct cases have led to criminal charges

Last year, in Essex County, an Orange police sergeant was indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of official misconduct and falsifying public records.

Sgt. Yolanda Holmes, of Somerset, was charged with forging the signatures of an officer and a sergeant on two requests to dismiss or void complaint forms, in an accused ticket fixing scheme.

Read More: Orange police sergeant indicted for forging ticket dismissals 

In Monmouth County four years ago, a former Aberdeen cop was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors said that Philip Santiago intentionally tampered with a law-enforcement drug test he was ordered to take in January 2021, piercing it with the pin on the back of his police badge, so it could not be processed.

And in May 2022, while on duty, Santiago deleted a video from a civilian’s cell phone that showed an interaction with Aberdeen officers ahead of that person’s arrest.

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