A former Rutgers University police sergeant has filed a suit against the university alleging he was fired in retaliation for sending an anonymous complaint to supervisors calling out fellow officers’ illegal activities.

Former officer Michael Jason Farella, who joined Rutgers’ Newark police department in 2001, filed the complaint on March 6 in Essex County Superior Court.

He alleges that he sent an anonymous letter to Rutgers Police Chief Kenneth Cop, Deputy Chief Michael Rein and Lt. Matt Gulsy, who is also the union representative, detailing several conduct violations by high-ranking officers and the cover-ups that followed.

While a Rutgers University spokesperson said they will not comment on pending litigation, “as an accredited law enforcement agency, the Rutgers University Police Department holds its employees to the highest standards in order to provide professional policing services for the community.”

“The RUPD takes any allegations of employee misconduct seriously and investigates them thoroughly and appropriately in accordance with proper procedures,” the statement continued.

Farella claimed in the anonymous August 2017 letter that officers drank beer, slept on duty, stole overtime, ran a side business, failed drug tests and covered up a drunk driving incident that injured a female, among other allegations.

A month later, Rein questioned Farella during an internal affairs investigation about the letter, which he admitted to writing, according to the complaint.

Two days later, during Farella’s shift as a duty supervisor, a new officer radioed that she was attempting to stop a driver and pursued the driver, despite Farella ordering her several times not to, the suit alleges. Eventually, the officer stopped, the complaint states.

The incident sparked an administrative memo, which the suit says determined was “properly monitored by a duty supervisor,” meaning Farella. But despite the review, Farella was brought up on disciplinary charges in April 2018 — seven months later — by Chief Carmelo Huertas, he alleged in the complaint.

Huertas then fired Farella on May 7, 2018 based on those charges. In a “final notice of disciplinary action," Huertas claimed Farella “failed to properly supervise the pursuit scenarios” by not “immediately taking control and providing direction to field units...resulting in an unauthorized pursuit being permitted to continue.”

He claims in the lawsuit other officers involved in the incident were given written warnings while the new officer was suspended for three days. Farella also said the finding is “clearly contradicted by the radio recordings during pursuit and the ... administrative review memo.”

The termination was in retaliation for Farella’s letter, he alleges, which is a violation of the state Conscientious Employee Protection Act.

Farello’s attorney, Christopher Lenzo, did not respond to request for comment. He told NorthJersey.com Farella has been working as a security officer because he hasn’t been able to get a job in a police department.

"He’s the only one that blew the whistle on unlawful conduct, and he got the most severe discipline,” Lenzo told the news organization.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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