WASHINGTON TWP. -- A Superior Court judge has denied a former police officer's bid to get his old job back, saying the cop's behavior shows a "pervasive strain of lying."

Joseph DiBuonaventura was fired from his position as a Washington Township police officer in 2016 after an internal affairs investigation concluded that he lied about his reasons for stopping state Assemblyman Paul Moriarty in 2012 and charging him with driving while intoxicated.

DiBuonaventura was also accused of purposefully writing phony warning notices to several drivers for violations that never occurred.

That investigation and his firing followed a criminal trial in which DiBuonaventura was found not guilty on charges related to the Moriarty arrest.

After he was fired, DiBuonaventura appealed the hearing officer's decision on the disciplinary action, leading to a decision this month by Judge David W. Morgan upholding the earlier decision.

Assemblyman arrested

DiBuonaventura arrested Moriarty on charges of driving while intoxicated in July 2012. Moriarty denied he had been drinking, refused a breath test and said the incident was the result of an "abuse of power" by DiBuonaventura.

The DWI charge was later dismissed after the county prosecutor's office concluded that the officer lied about his reasons for stopping Moriarty.

Moriarty filed 27 criminal complaints against DiBuonaventura, claiming the officer committed perjury, filed false reports and committed official misconduct, among other allegations.

A judge charged DiBuonaventura with 13 of those 27 complaints and forwarded those charges to the prosecutor's office. He was found not guilty following a 2015 trial.

Then came the internal affairs case and his termination.

'Demonstrated dislike'

The officer fabricated his reason for stopping Moriarty, omitted the real reason for pursuing him in his report and only came clean after realizing the entire matter was captured on his in-car camera, Morgan found in supporting the hearing officer's original conclusion in the internal affairs probe.

"The case reveals an officer with demonstrated animosity and dislike for Moriarty effectively targeting him ..." Morgan writes. "The warnings case demonstrates that plaintiff's potential for fabrication was more pervasive and longer-lived."

The warnings case involved claims that DiBuonaventura filled out motor vehicle warnings for seven drivers, but did not serve those motorists with the warnings as part of an effort to artificially inflate his productivity.

The ruling includes sworn statements DiBuonaventura gave as part of the original investigation of the ticket cases.

DiBuonaventura said he didn't recall ever doing as the department alleged and noted he had little memory of the individual stops, given that they had occurred three years earlier.

In that exchange, he described how he viewed the warnings.

"I thought a warning was nothing more than a piece of paper," he said. "In fact, I tell people to throw it in the trash can when they go home. ... I remember being at a couple of parties where I used to take the warning book and write fake warnings on other cops and we would joke about it. We were just having fun. I mean, I wouldn't do that with an official police document."

In another passage, he said of warnings, "... I treated it like a piece of toilet paper on occasion."

A matter of trust

Both cases came down to issues of dishonesty, Morgan said.

"Together the two cases evidence a 'pervasive strain of lying' which clearly cannot be condoned nor allowed to continue," he wrote.

"Ultimately, the question posed in deciding appropriate discipline, "is this an officer who society should expect to be placed back on patrol to enforce our rules and laws on the community?'" the judge said. "For this court, the answer to that has to be 'no.'"

Attorney Christine P. O'Hearn issued a statement on behalf of the township praising the ruling.

"We are pleased with the court's decision upholding the township's termination of this former police officer. The decision recognizes the need for the public to have confidence in its police officers and further reinforces the township's policy of integrity and service for all police officers."

In addition to getting his job back, DiBuonaventura sought back pay. He could end up having to pay the township instead.

The township is seeking reimbursement of about $13,000 it paid DiBuonaventura in early 2015, while he was suspended with pay. The pay period covers the span between March 3, 2015, when he was found not guilty in the criminal trial, and April 17 of that year, when the township filed administrative charges.

Morgan gave the township 14 days to submit certification of the amount owed.

DiBuonaventura does have the option to appeal Morgan's ruling.

An attorney representing DiBuonaventura in the bid to get his job back did not return a call for comment on Monday.

String of lawsuits filed

The case has spawned several lawsuits.

Moriarty filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against DiBuonaventura and that case was settled last year by the Tri-County Joint Insurance Fund, which insures Washington Township employees.

Moriarty also sued the township police department, but a federal judge dismissed that claim in 2015.

Other cases remain in the pipeline.

DiBuonaventura is suing county prosecutor Sean Dalton and retired Washington Township Police Chief Rafael Muniz, claiming they mishandled the internal affairs probe and prosecution of the Moriarty case. The township and a former township business administrator are also named as defendants in another suit.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.