ROXBURY, NJ – A Rockaway Township woman was falsely arrested after rebuffing the advances of a former Roxbury policeman who sent her sexually explicit text messages, nude photos of himself and requests that she join him in threesomes, according to a federal lawsuit.

The woman, Angela Schaeffer, says former Roxbury Patrolman Thomas VanHouten began sending the “harassing, sexually explicit and abusive electronic and/or verbal communications” shortly after she agreed to become a confidential informant to police in Roxbury and Hopatcong.

In her U.S. District Court complaint, filed Dec. 22, Schaeffer also alleges she was “verbally abused” by other police officers, including Roxbury Police Detective Richard Ricco and Hopatcong Police Detective Ryan Tracey, during her 18-month stint as an informant.

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She contends her May 9, 2014 arrest on drug related charges – a case ultimately dismissed by the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office – was retribution for her complaints about the abuse.

The lawsuit, filed by Sparta lawyer Jeffrey Patti, seeks $2 million. In addition to naming the officers, the complaint names both Roxbury and Hopatcong townships, Roxbury Police Chief James Simonetti and Hopatcong Police Chief Robert Brennan.

Schaeffer says she was used by the two police departments “to assist in investigations and prosecutions of drug related crimes and/or offenses” and she says her cooperation “resulted in several drug related arrests and prosecutions.” During this period, Schaeffer reported to and was supervised by Ricco and Tracey, says the lawsuit. Schaeffer says she also reported to Van Houten and other police not named in the lawsuit.

While acting as a drug snitch, Schaeffer communicated much of her confidential informant (CI) information electronically using her cellphone, she says.

“Commencing after the inception of the CI agreement but before the May 9, 2014 false arrest, Van Houten sent sexually explicit text messages and forwarded nude images of him to Schaeffer and overtly and repeatedly pressured Schaeffer into sexual liaisons and threesomes with him and another woman and/or women,” says the lawsuit. “Schaeffer has retained many of the electronic communications directed towards her by Defendants including nude photographs forwarded to her by Van Houten.”





The complaint says Schaeffer “rebuffed” the advances and “began complaining about the abhorrent treatment directed towards her.” Schaeffer says her complaints prompted the police to retaliate. “Consequently, defendants purposefully and with malice disclosed her identity to the various individuals she aided in the investigation and prosecution, thereby placing her and her family in extreme danger.”

Aware that Schaeffer’s phone “retained incriminating electronic communications,” Ricco and Tracey “fabricated evidence, trumped up false criminal accusations and charges and falsely and maliciously arrested Schaeffer on May 9, 2014 at her place of employment during business hours causing Schaeffer great humiliation and embarrassment,” says the lawsuit.

It says Ricco and Tracey took Schaeffer’s cellphone during the arrest and “erased evidence that incriminated them and Van Houten … with regard to their abuse and mistreatment of Schaeffer during the CI engagement.”

After she was arrested, Schaeffer “was subjected to severe and humiliating verbal abuse” by Hopatcong detectives, says the complaint. It alleges Ricco told Schaeffer, “You should have shot yourself and put yourself out of your misery,” and contends Tracey repeatedly equated Schaeffer with excrement, called her “scum of the Earth” and suggested she overdose.

The complaint notes that Schaeffer’s 2014 arrest was mentioned in a Hopatcong Police press release that was picked up by the media causing Schaeffer “severe humiliation and embarrassment.” Schaeffer spent a week in jail before being freed on bail, says her complaint, which notes the charges were administratively dismissed by the prosecutor’s office a month later.

Following an internal affairs investigation, Van Houten resigned his position, says the lawsuit.

Requests for comment, sent to Roxbury Township Attorney Anthony Bucco, Roxbury Township Manager Christopher Raths and Roxbury Police Chief James Simonetti were not immediately answered on Thursday.

Schaeffer’s lawsuit asserts violations of her federal and state Constitutional rights, alleges she suffered from false imprisonment, false arrest and malicious prosecution and was the victim of civil conspiracy.