More Edison cops are expected to join the tarnished ranks of the force -- and soon -- as the latest corruption investigation over alleged no-show side jobs expands to ensnare more officers, county officials told NJ Advance Media.

A review of the department's payroll records -- including base salary, overtime and side-job pay -- by the news outlet since the recent arrests found that the five officers facing official misconduct charges were not the only cops nearly doubling their salary with extra work.

While no other officers have been accused of any wrongdoing, experts questioned if the workloads of these top-earning officers logged were even possible, and said, if the hours were verified, it's a dangerous practice.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey, when asked Wednesday about the news outlet's findings, said his office's investigation is "very active" and anticipated "additional officers will be charged in the near future." It was unclear who the agency is expecting to charge.

The county prosecutor admonished top officials in the township on Friday when his office charged the first five officers with theft and denounced the township's system -- or lack thereof -- that allowed these cops to pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars on alleged no-show side-job details.

In the scathing, singular statement from Carey -- who has stood by Police Chief Thomas Bryan as the town's top cop attempted to rehabilitate a police force that has been embroiled in scandals for years -- said the structure of assigning off-duty jobs has led to corruption and nepotism.

And the broken system matters because the pay from off-duty details is no small sum-- it's millions of dollars.

In just under a 2 1/2-year span, officers pulled in nearly $8 million at these off-duty details in which a third party pays through the township for private security and shifts monitoring road construction and utility work, according to public records obtained through the Open Public Records Act.

Aside from the charged cops, four of the top-earning officers in 2017 would have had to work more than 50 hours per week, using all of their vacation, personal and sick time to clock in at side jobs to earn their total pay that year.

Officer Jason Eckert, who doubled his base salary with overtime and off-duty work on his third year on the job, would have had to work more than 55-hours a week with no paid days off.

Both officers Melvin Dixon and Robert Dipple Jr., earned more than $230,000 in 2017, about $100,000 above their base pay.

So far, Officer Paul Pappas, 43, Sgt. Ioannis "John" Mpletsakis, 38, Officer James Panagoulakos, 32, all of Edison Township, Officer Gregory Makras, 33, of Cranford, and Sgt. Brian Rossmeyer, 41, of Bedminster, face allegations of taking pay from extra-duty jobs without working the shifts.

The charged officers, who have all been suspended without pay, netted more than $840,000 in extra-duty work over the last two years, according to records.

Bryan, whose force of 170 patrols the fifth-largest municipality in the state, said Wednesday the department has capped the amount of off-duty hours an officer can log, limiting cops to 20 hours extra a week, but did not respond to specific questions about the news outlets findings or officer fatigue.

A dozen Edison officers averaged more than 50 hours per week for the entirety of 2017 with no paid days off, according to NJ Advance Media's analysis of the department's base salary, overtime and side-job pay.

The average employee, who only works a 40-hour workweek, is paid for 2,080 hours per year. While on Edison force, three dozen logged an extra 500 hours -- or nearly three weeks on the clock -- more than the average person last year.

The scheduling, which Carey said had little oversight, was handled by retired Edison officer, Andres Rosa. Rosa retired in 1995 and has been running the side-job operation in the department for more than 20 years with an annual salary of $51,868.

Since news broke last week of the alleged mismanagement and charges against five officers, the township has taken steps to soon replace Rosa.

Mayor Thomas Lankey is expected to ask the Edison Township Council next week to allow the township to solicit bids for a third-party vendor to handle the scheduling, Edison Business Administrator Maureen Ruane said in a statement.

The latest scandal is believed to have come out of authorities probe into Pappas's alleged tire slashing incident that also led to seven officers being placed on desk duty over accusations of illegal steroid use. Those officers' names have not been released.

"I'd like to see the officer convince a jury those are legitimate working hours," Jon Shane, a retired Newark police captain who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "You would have no time for anything else."

In Newark, Shane said officers were capped at 20 additional hours a week.

"It's unheard of," Dr. Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said of the data showing officers who doubled their salary.

In New York City, Haberfeld said, police officers often earn an extra 30 to 40 percent of their salary.

"It's not just about how much they are working, but how much they can sleep," said Stephen James, an assistant research professor at Washington State University whose studies have focused on officer fatigue.

The three experts interviewed each equated the dangers of overworking police to other industries in all of which the hours are strictly monitored, such as truck drivers, airline staff and physicians.

There is no statewide regulation limiting hours worked by officers, according to the experts, and any cap on hours would vary from department to department, despite the safety risks.

James said overworking and lack of sleep can affect an officer's driving, demeanor in how they interact with the public and their decision to use force.

Being awake for 24 hours impairs someone's driving similarly to blowing a .10 on a Breathalyzer machine, according to James.

It's not uncommon for departments to outsource the assigning and tracking of these volunteer jobs to companies to prevent any appearance of favoritism. The off-duty shifts are processed through the township's payroll but paid by a third-party and do not add to an officer's pension.

The new cap on the side jobs does not limit an officer's overtime.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article calculated Edison officers' total pay on inaccurate information provided by the township. This story has since been updated to reflect the correct salaries.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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