After Perth Amboy police chief makes calls, rumored girlfriend's husband is arrested

This article was first published April 28, 2015.

PERTH AMBOY – The city's police chief is facing serious legal trouble.

In December he was arrested on charges of theft and official misconduct after being accused of ordering municipal mechanics to repair vehicles belonging to him and a friend.

Now, new evidence suggests Ruiz may have used his position as the city's top cop to use the police department to benefit those he knew. In 2013, Ruiz intervened in a domestic violence call on behalf of a subordinate with whom he had a rumored extramarital affair. And last year Ruiz had police help a landlord with a troubling police record collect rent.

Ruiz's leading critic in the community, a retired police officer and a former councilman, says these inilstances show how Ruiz "was out of control" and never was reined in because of his friendly relationship to Mayor Wilda Diaz, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Ken Balut, an ally-turned-foe of Diaz, has criticized Ruiz for once appearing in police uniform at a Diaz campaign event.

"You're putting officers in a bad way," he said about Ruiz's handling of these two cases. "My argument always is: If your leader is no good, your bottom is going to be no good. That's the problem. The leadership in Perth Amboy is disgusting."

Ruiz's intervention in the 2013 domestic-violence call resulted in the woman's husband being arrested and slapped with a restraining order. The responding officers initially did not find the need to make an arrest and the Municipal Court judge who issued the restraining order can be heard on a recording of a phone call with police expressing doubt about the need.

In July 2014, Ruiz called police headquarters to request that officers be sent to a Lawrie Street address in order to help the landlord collect rent. Ruiz made the call after the landlord, Elvis Valerio, had shown up in headquarters "yelling and screaming" and "acting like a jerk," according to the watch commander who took Ruiz's call.

Audio of Ruiz' requesting a peace officer for Elvis Valerio. Story continues below.

It's unclear why Ruiz called on Valerio's behalf. Valerio, who last week could not be reached for comment, was arrested in 2007 on charges of selling prescription drugs out of Daisy's Carnicieria, just a few doors down from his Lawrie Street home. Those charges eventually were dropped as part of a pretrial intervention deal with the court.

On the date police were dispatched to his house at the request of Ruiz, city police had been called to the home 24 times, many of them calls by tenants complaining that Valerio was harassing them. A month after that call, Valerio was charged with aggravated assault on a tenant. Police said security footage caught him in his car trying to run over the tenant.

Police record of peace officer visit to Lawrie Street in July 2014. Reading on mobile? Click here. Story continues below.

Calls to Ruiz and his attorney were not returned this week and Acting Police Chief Larry Cattano, who was provided with copies of the police reports and audio recordings that MyCentralJersey.com obtained, declined to specifically answer questions about the two cases.

Balut, who obtained the phone recordings quoted in this report from a police department whistleblower, said the calls show a pattern of Ruiz "compromising the integrity" of the department.

"It's totally improper. We don't go collect people's rent. That's intimidating people. That's Gestapo stuff," he said about Ruiz's request for a peace officer for Valerio.

"It's the same thing with the domestic-violence call. Everybody and his brother (on the force) knew there was a relationship going on between the chief and this woman. You're taught in the police academy that this is what you're supposed to stay away from."

Ruiz was charged in December 2014 and indicted in February on official misconduct, theft and witness-tampering charges that allege he had city mechanics work on his motorcycle and 1964 Mustang and a friend's vehicle on various occasions between Dec. 8, 2013, and July 29, 2014.

The indictment followed a city investigation into Ruiz over alleged sexual harassment of employees.

The 2012 city investigation confirmed that Ruiz and an employee had had a relationship years earlier that resulted in a child, who Ruiz is helping to raise.

The investigation also acknowledged the rumor that Ruiz was engaged in yet another extramarital affair with a different woman in his department. The report, however, said "there is no competent evidence of a current sexual relationship between" the two.

But a year later, Ruiz was pressuring subordinates to take action against the same woman's husband. MyCentralJersey.com is not naming the individuals in order to protect the identity of the alleged victim.

The woman called police at 10:17 p.m., Jan. 30, 2013, after getting into an argument with her husband, who she said had "became agitated and pushed her" because she had gone out without leaving him a note.

One of the two responding officers reported "no visible signs of injuries" and that "she wanted nothing done at this time and that she didn't want to sign a complaint" but would follow up later "if a further incident occurred."

The police agreed to drive the woman to a relative's home for the evening. On the way, Officer Michael Bucior said he "could hear her talking to someone on the phone about the incident that occurred" and that she "was calm and not nervous, stating over the phone that he didn't push her but bumped his chest into her chest," and that "she was tired of the arguments and mentioned that she might file for a restraining order in the future."

Although not mentioned in either police report, Ruiz apparently was working behind the scenes.

In a phone call to Lt. Paul Cannamela, Ruiz is upset about the way the officers are handling the case and repeatedly says that they could be held personally "liable" if they don't make an arrest.

In fact, police are only required to make a domestic-violence arrest if there is any injury, a violation of a restraining order or the use of a weapon.

Police in New Jersey also are immune from civil liability from a domestic violence call as long as they act "in good faith."

Audio of one of Ruiz's calls to the supervisor on the domestic violence call. Several seconds containing the address are blanked out. Story continues below.

"I got a call from a family member," Ruiz says on the call. "I guess the female gets assaulted and the cops are telling them one of them has to leave. When did the domestic-violence laws change?"

CANNAMELA: All right, let me reach out to them right now.

RUIZ: You know we're opening ourselves up to liabilities here.

CANNAMELA: Bucior and Jose Rosario are there.

RUIZ: And I get that, but you understand what I'm saying? Regardless of who it is I got it, I got it from a third party, a family member (...) but my concern is that if we know the people, whatever, we still open ourselves to liability. You know domestic violence. If anything was done, it's open and shut.

CANNAMELA: So you're saying that the female was assaulted?

RUIZ: Right. They're taking her to a family member to avoid any more confrontation. She's going to go do a restraining order tomorrow at the county. But my concern is, what kind of liability are we opening up ourselves? And our guys are just ignoring the domestic violence laws, if that's what happened.

When Bucior arrives at the woman's relative's home, the woman says she believes that her husband's car is parked outside. As Bucior proceeds to take the woman to police headquarters, Ruiz makes another call to Cannamela.

RUIZ: Apparently I got a cousin calling me now that we drove her to where he's at?

CANNAMELA: They were taking her to a location. I think she has a son.

RUIZ: Right. She's afraid to stay in the house and apparently he's there waiting for her.

CANNAMELA: All right, I got, I diverted Bucior. He's coming here with her and Rosario is coming in and I'm going to get the whole story.

RUIZ: Apparently he's at the house there. If we know he's there then have somebody transport him and if we are going to take him in then do what we got to do, but we can't keep letting this [expletive] happen. We got to be very cautious. You know the domestic violence law. We got to be very cautious that we're covering ourselves[...]

CANNAMELA: All right. They are going to come here and if she says she was assaulted then we—

RUIZ: But she already told the officers. If she already told them on the scene we don't need to babysit these guys. If you need to get a boss out there to teach these guys how to do it, but they need to understand that in domestic violence they not only open up the department they open up themselves personally to liability. That's the one thing that these guys need to understand. Domestic violence is the one thing that you personally can be gone after[...]

Police reports from this incident. Redactions were made by city in order to protect private information. Reading on mobile? Click here.Story continues below.

The woman's husband was arrested later that evening after Bucior called Municipal Court Judge George Boyd to request a restraining order. Bucior puts the woman on the phone to explain to Boyd, under oath, what happened.

"She wants a restraining order for that activity?" he asks Bucior.

"I don't know. This doesn't seem to be the strongest case but give her a restraining order," he finally decides, giving the woman custody of their son and the house. Boyd has the husband released without bail "and then maybe he can keep working and make some money for himself."

Cattano, a captain who was appointed acting chief during Ruiz's suspension, would not say whether he believed Ruiz acted inappropriately in these cases.

"I am not defending or excusing any action," he said in a follow-up email. "I was not present for or involved in any aspect of the referenced situations, therefore I am prohibited from making any educated comment on them."

Cattano said officers are sworn "to uphold the law and provide service when called upon to anyone regardless of their specific circumstances."

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Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com