New Jersey officer arrested for using police databases to illegally look up personal information, DA says
A police officer in Monmouth County, New Jersey, was arrested for allegedly using computer databases to look up personal information about a woman and then driving to her home, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said in a release Thursday afternoon.
Joshua James, 29, was charged with third-degree computer-related criminal activity, according to the release from prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago.
James is a police officer for the Neptune Township Police Department. He was arrested and charged earlier this week and was suspended from duty from the police department, the prosecutor said.
An investigation found James was working outside an elementary school when he noticed a woman picking up her child sometime this month.
James then looked up her license plate and home address in two police databases that are used for strictly policing purposes, the release said. He then drove to the woman's home and asked if she was single and if he could have her phone number.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Professional Responsibility Unit led the investigation.
Anyone who has any information about James's activities is urged to contact MCPO Detective Ryan Mahony at 800-533-7443.
The Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Melanie Falco and the director of the MCPO Professional Responsibility Unit will be prosecuting the case. The release said information about representation for James was not immediately available.
"Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law," as said in the release.