Troubled NJ cop resigns amid investigation into violent tweets

ELMER — A police officer has resigned amid an internal affairs investigation into his Twitter rantings.

Police Chief Patrick Bryan Jr. said in a statement that Lt. Steven Felice submitted his resignation on Thursday.

This is not the first time Felice has lost his job as police officer.

Officials were examining a Twitter account that has since been deleted in which Felice, photographed in his uniform, allegedly praised President Donald Trump and attacked those who commented against the president, including threatening violence against a Massachusetts congressman.

Felice had been taken off of duty during the investigation.

He joined the police department in 2007 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2014.

New Jersey 101.5 reported that Felice lost his job as a cop in Millville in 2006 as part of a plea deal after he had been indicted on threatening to kill a woman while off duty.

Bryan told New Jersey 101.5 that his department hired Felice shortly after his resignation from the other department because the woman in the Millville incident recanted her statement.

Before his account was deleted, he tweeted the claim that it had been hacked.

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.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.