Police Officer Pleads Guilty

Former Camden Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Deprive Others of Their Civil Rights


CAMDEN—A former Camden, New Jersey police officer pled guilty today to his role in a conspiracy with other Camden Police officers to deprive others of their civil rights, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Kevin Parry, 29, admitted before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler that from May 2007 until October 2009, while on duty as a uniformed police officer with the Camden Police Department, he engaged in a conspiracy with at least four other Camden Police officers to deprive persons in New Jersey of the free exercise and enjoyment of rights, privileges and immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. The other officers were not identified by name. Parry faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Kugler scheduled sentencing for June 24, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

Fishman stated that “the actions described in today’s guilty plea are reprehensible, and our investigation of that conduct continues. Their actions, however, should be no reflection on the countless dedicated police officers who perform their mission honestly and admirably.”

At his plea hearing, Parry admitted that he and the four other officers deprived certain individuals in Camden of their due process rights by charging people with planted evidence, by threatening certain individuals with arrest using planted evidence if they did not cooperate with law enforcement, by conducting illegal searches without a search warrant or without consent, by stealing drugs and money during illegal searches and arrests, by paying for cooperation and information with illegal drugs, and by preparing false police reports or testifying falsely in court to conceal their actions.

Parry told Judge Kugler during his plea that he had been an officer with the Camden Police Department since October 2006. During that time, Parry admitted that he was teamed with four other officers in a patrol or special operations division identified as Platoon #4. According to Parry, the conspiracy operated within this platoon. Parry resigned his position as an officer with the Camden Police Department in November 2009.

Parry admitted that, on between 30 and 50 occasions, he or other members of the conspiracy added drugs to the amount of drugs seized during an arrest in order to make the arrest appear more significant, and on as many as 20 occasions, paid cooperators and informants, who were often prostitutes, with drugs in exchange for information. Parry further admitted that he and the other officers falsified police reports, and that he testified falsely under oath, all in an endeavor to conceal their actions.

Parry detailed for Judge Kugler during his plea that on one occasion in September 2008, he and three other officers conducted various searches at an apartment complex in Camden with no search warrant nor consent from the residents. On another occasion in January 2009, Parry admitted that a person only identified by the initials R.M. was charged after searching a house which he was in without a warrant or consent. The police report, Parry admitted, falsely stated that R.M. fled the scene and discarded drugs during R.M.’s escape from police when, in fact, neither the flight, nor the discarding of drugs, occurred.

Under the federal sentencing process including the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Judge Kugler will determine the actual sentence based upon a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense and the defendant's criminal history, if any. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under the Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given federal custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Fishman credited Special Agents of the FBI’s Resident Agency in Cherry Hill, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division; Investigators and Prosecutors of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Warren Faulk; the Camden Police Department, under the direction of Chief Scott Thomson; and deputy attorney generals from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, Division of Criminal Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Paula Dow, with developing the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin T. Smith and Matthew J. Skahill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Kase of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, a Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Chief of the Public Corruption Unit with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office who is on special assignment for purposes of this investigation.