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Edison police officers Anthony Sarni and David Pedana were suspended from their department in October 2013, yet they continue to receive paychecks.

(Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Advance Media)

In what amounts to a long vacation at taxpayer expense, two Edison police officers continue to draw hefty salaries more than a year after they were suspended amid allegations of impropriety.

Patrolmen Anthony Sarni, who earns $120,000 annually, and David Pedana, who makes $89,000, were suspended in October 2013 over unrelated episodes of alleged misconduct.

Sarni, while still in uniform after the completion of his shift, returned to the scene of a 911 call at an Edison hotel, where he allegedly tried to coerce a woman to have sex with him. The woman rebuffed the 40-year-old officer and filed a complaint, authorities have said.

Pedana, 35, is accused of sending text messages that contained numerous racial epithets, including some directed at fellow officers.

Township officials signaled their intention to fire the two in May of this year, sending the officers letters saying they were entitled to defend themselves at departmental disciplinary hearings.

But those hearings, akin to trials, have yet to take place. Moreover, they haven't even been scheduled, according to members of the department.

“My God, that’s a good gig if you can get it,” Edison Councilman Wayne Mascola said. “We’re not talking chump change here. We all know what kind of money these officers make. Something has to be done for the taxpayers’ sake.”

Mascola added that because he didn’t know what kind of evidence exists against the officers, he wasn’t advocating for their dismissal. But he urged Mayor Thomas Lankey, the township’s public safety director, to move more swiftly in scheduling disciplinary hearings.

Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey, left, addresses residents during a meeting at the municipal building in November. Police chief Thomas Bryan stands at right. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

“A decision has to be made, and we have to move on,” Mascola said. “It’s been 13 months. Why are we waiting around on this?”

Lankey declined to be interviewed for this story. In an emailed statement, he addressed the circumstances that required the township to pay the officers during their suspensions. The statement did not say why hearings have yet to be held.

“In the private sector, employees who are accused of wrongdoing can be suspended without pay pending an inquiry or they can simply be terminated,” Lankey said. “The public sector – in our case, municipal government – is constrained by state statute, case law and union contracts.”

Under state rules, police officers must continue to receive pay while suspended unless they’re charged with a duty-related fourth-degree crime, a crime of the third degree or higher, or a crime of moral turpitude. While Sarni and Pedana face multiple administrative counts, they were not charged with crimes.

Pedana could not be reached for comment. An attorney for Sarni did not return several phone calls.

Such lengthy suspensions with pay are not unprecedented, but they are rare, said Wayne Fisher, a former deputy director in the state Division of Criminal Justice and now a professor at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Criminal Justice.

A police officer in Coconut Creek, Fla., returned to work last year after a suspension of nearly 18 months, according to published reports. In Georgia, seven police officers were placed on desk duty for several years while continuing to collect full pay, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2009.

In the Edison case, Fisher said it is within the mayor’s purview to continue paying the officers, but he said Lankey should publicly explain why the suspension has dragged on.

“He has a responsibility to the people of Edison -- the taxpayers of Edison -- to say what is taking so long to bring this to a disposition,” Fisher said. “The inability or disinclination to answer that question in and of itself says something.”

Edison police Chief Thomas Bryan declined to comment on the suspensions, saying he was not at liberty to discuss personnel issues.

Sarni and Pedana are among at least six Edison officers out on suspension.

Acting Lt. William Gesell and two patrolmen, Victor Aravena and Brian Favretto, allegedly conspired with another officer, Michael Dotro, to retaliate against a North Brunswick cop who brought a drunken driving charge against one of Dotro’s associates.

The four were indicted in October on a range of criminal counts related to the alleged retaliation plot, which was not carried out. In an unrelated matter, Aravena was charged with pressuring a fellow Edison officer to change a police report in May 2013.

The officers, all suspended without pay, have pleaded not guilty.

The charges against them grew out of a case that rocked the police department last year: the arrest of Dotro on charges that he tried to kill one of his superiors by setting fire to the man's house as he and his family slept inside.

The superior, Deputy Chief Mark Anderko, and his relatives escaped unharmed. Dotro faces five counts of attempted murder and other counts for the alleged arson attack.

In the wake of Dotro’s arrest, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office seized cell phones from many of his colleagues to determine if any of them had advance knowledge of the fire. The alleged retaliation plot -- along with the racist text messages on Pedana’s phone -- were discovered during that investigation, authorities have said.

Mark Mueller may be reached at mmueller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJMueller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Four charged in Edison police retaliation scheme appear in court 15 Gallery: Four charged in Edison police retaliation scheme appear in court

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