PISCATAWAY — A 22-year veteran of the Piscataway Police Department will be sentenced Feb. 21 for stealing cocaine from the department's evidence vault when he was the evidence officer.

Albert Annuzzi, 47, pleaded guilty Thursday to third degree official misconduct and told Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz that he took the cocaine for personal use while he served as the evidence officer from January 2010 until his arrest in April 2011.

He was charged with official misconduct and tampering with evidence when he was arrested April 25, 2011.

Under the plea agreement reached between the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Annuzzi, he will face up to three years in prison and must serve two before he is eligible for parole. He will also be banned from holding any public job in New Jersey and forfeit his pension.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the cocaine Annuzzi admitted stealing was evidence in other criminal cases.

Annuzzi, of Matawan, was suspended from his job after he was arrested and remains free on bail until his sentencing.

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