Last week, James Long filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Burlington County Board of Freeholders and the city of Philadelphia, alleging a number of his constitutional rights were violated when he was falsely arrested and wrongfully incarcerated due to a state warrant that Burlington failed to clear in 2016.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the plaintiff.

MOUNT HOLLY — An old warrant in Burlington County landed a Philadelphia man in jail for 23 days — two years after he was cleared of the same charges — and now he is looking for his day in court.

Last week, James Long filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Burlington County Board of Freeholders and the city of Philadelphia, alleging a number of his constitutional rights were violated when he says he was falsely arrested and wrongfully incarcerated due to a state warrant that Burlington County failed to clear in 2016.

Long is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as damages for pain and suffering, alleging that the wrongful incarceration caused him to lose his job and suffer emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of reputation and scorn from the community.

According to the complaint, Long was first arrested at his Philadelphia home in June 2016 on a warrant issued by the state of New Jersey that alleged he unlawfully sold and/or purchased prescription drugs.

Long stood trial for the charges in Burlington County Superior Court six months later. He was found not guilty by a jury, and released from custody.

Then on Nov. 6, 2018, he was arrested again at his Philadelphia home — for the same warrant.

Long’s attorney, Michael van der Veen, of the Philadelphia-based law firm van der Veen, O’Neill, Hartshorn, and Levin, said this week that with modern computer software available, he’s never seen such mismanagement.

“This kind of sloppiness should not occur and should not be tolerated,” van der Veen said. “I’ve never seen such gross negligence.”

A representative from Burlington County could not be reached for comment on the litigation. Officials do not normally comment on pending litigation.

Burlington County had failed to clear the warrant and despite Long’s attempts to inform the police, the clerks and judges in Pennsylvania that the warrant was a mistake, bail was set at $100,000, according to the complaint.

Unable to afford bail, Long spent the next 21 days in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia until he was transferred to the Burlington County Jail on Nov. 27, 2018. Two days later, at his arraignment hearing, Long explained that the warrant was a mistake and he was promptly dismissed.

The complaint also said that the county gave Long the wrong bus ticket for him to get back to Philadelphia, and he had to ask strangers for money to get back home.

The suit alleges that the county and Philadelphia violated Young’s Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and 14th constitutional amendment rights, as well as the New Jersey Constitution and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act.