Graphic videos obtained by The Enterprise appear to show Abington Officer Paul Januszewski in police uniform masturbating behind the wheel of his police vehicle.

ABINGTON – The police department is investigating videos that appear to show a veteran Abington police officer masturbating in his police cruiser while in uniform and on duty.

Paul Januszewski, 53, went out on extended paid sick leave on Sept. 29 amid “serious allegations of inappropriate behavior,” Police Chief David Majenski said.



The daughter of Januszewski’s ex-girlfriend claims Januszewski sent her the explicit videos.



In one of the videos, obtained by The Enterprise, police scanner chatter is overheard from the vehicle’s radio while he is masturbating. In another, Januszewski, who is partially nude, can be heard making vulgar, explicit sexual comments.



Januszewski could not be reached for comment Tuesday. An Abington telephone number in his name is out of service.



Majenski said the department began investigating in late September when a former Abington resident, who claims Januszewski sent the sex videos to her cell phone, filed a complaint with the Abington Police Department.



Tabitha Butterworth told The Enterprise that Januszewski sent her the graphic videos via text message in September. The 20-year-old said she was 19 when Januszewski sent the videos, and claims Januszewski also sent her several explicit photographs of himself on Snapchat.



“He’s my mother’s ex-boyfriend,” said Butterworth. “It’s just really weird, coming from my mother’s ex-boyfriend, who I looked up to. It’s very creepy.”



Butterworth, who now lives in Florida, said she never had an intimate relationship with Januszewski. She said she texted him in August to say hello, and that his texts back to her became increasingly sexual in nature.



“After that it just kept escalating,” Butterworth said.



She said Januszewski and her mother, Pamela, broke up about two years ago. She and her mother previously lived with Januszewski at his Abington home, she said.



“I just think it’s just sick and grotesque,” Butterworth’s mother, Pamela, 54, said of the graphic videos. “This absolutely shocked me. I never in a million years would think that he would ever do anything like this, ever.”



When he went on leave, Januszewski’s license to lawfully carry a weapon was suspended, and all his personal weapons, including his duty firearm, were secured and taken by police, Majenski said.



Majenski declined to talk about the allegations against Januszewski or any details of the case. He also declined to release the complaint Butterworth sent to police in September, citing the ongoing investigation.



“The allegations are being taken very seriously,” said Majenski.



He expects the investigation to be completed by the end of this month. The outcome could lead to disciplinary action up to and including Januszewski’s termination, he said.



“We’d like to make sure we talk to the remaining witness, and we’re trying to get a hold of another person,” Majenski said.



When asked this week if he had viewed the videos at the center of the complaint, Majenski said he had not. Protocol is to review all of the evidence at once when it is finally presented to him by the lead investigator, Abington police Lt. Kevin Sullivan, he said.



“I look at everything in a formal setting and make a decision from there,” said Majenski, who is appointed by town charter to make personnel decisions in the police department.



Majenski said no outside agency is investigating the case since the allegations against Januszewski are not criminal in nature.



“There’s been no allegations of any criminal behavior – certainly inappropriate behavior, but not criminal,” Majenski said.



Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said Tuesday she was unaware of the Abington police investigation and referred questions back to Abington police.



Abington Town Manager Rick LaFond called the allegations against Januszewski “shocking and it’s disgusting.”



“If it indeed involves an employee of the town, it obviously would have to be dealt with severely,” said LaFond.



LaFond said he hasn’t seen the explicit videos and “I don’t intend to see them.”



Abington selectmen chairman Ken Coyle, and selectmen Michael Franey, Maureen Jansen, Tom Dion and R. Andrew Burbine could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.



Januszewski earned $124,549 in his police job in 2013, according to the town Treasurer/Collector. He was first hired by the town in 1994, and began working as a full-time police officer in Abington in 1997, officials said.



For several years, Januszewski oversaw the Abington Police Department’s technology department, and also has worked as the department’s court prosecutor, Majenski said. He is among six officers listed on the department’s Motorcycle Patrol Unit, according to the Abington Police website.



When asked what she’d like to see happen in the case, Butterworth said, “I just want to see something done. It’s not fair.”



She said she once looked up to Januszewski, and that at one point she had considered becoming a police officer.



“It’s very sad, because I looked at him as a role model,” Tabitha Butterworth said. “He kind of just ruined and crushed everything.”



Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.