Haddon Township former commissioner Paul Dougherty pleads guilty

Jim Walsh | The Courier-Post

CAMDEN - Paul Dougherty, who resigned Tuesday as a Haddon Township commissioner, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a criminal charge.

Dougherty told a judge he unlawfully accepted a referral fee of about $7,000 from a law firm in connection with a lawsuit against the township, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

"He referred a township police officer to the firm for purposes of suing the township, despite the clear conflict of interest involving his position as commissioner," it said.

The plea came one day after Dougherty, a 48-year-old attorney, stepped down as a municipal prosecutor in Cherry Hill and Medford.

Under a plea agreement, Dougherty agreed to forfeit his commissioner's post. He will be barred from holding public office and public employment in New Jersey, the Attorney General's Office said.

The prosecution will recommend a probationary term for Dougherty, who is to be sentenced Dec. 14 by Superior Court Judge Edward J. McBride Jr.

Dougherty admitted guilt to conspiring to confer an unlawful benefit on a public official

Haddon Township police officer's suit

According to an account from the Attorney General's Office, Dougherty was contacted in 2013 by a Haddon Township police officer "who was having issues with her superiors and had just been suspended."

Dougherty, who previously oversaw the police department, improperly told the officer she had the basis for a lawsuit, the account said.

He referred her to a law firm that obtained a $48,000 settlement on the officer's behalf in 2015, the account said.

The law firm received about $21,000 from the officer's settlement and paid Dougherty "a referral fee of $7,106."

Video: Dougherty leaves office in Haddon Township Haddon Twp. Commissioner Paul Dougherty has resigned almost three months after being charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

Dougherty returned the fee "after he learned that he was under investigation," the account said.

Court records show the township in 2015 agreed to have an insurer pay $48,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Denise Brodo, an officer who alleged she faced retaliation as a whistleblower.

Brodo was represented by Kevin Costello, a Mount Laurel attorney, the records show.

The investigation into Dougherty's referral was conducted by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. It began with a referral from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

Dougherty announced his resignation in an email Tuesday to Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague and Commissioner James Mulroy.

It came almost three months after he’d been charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and after Dougherty had missed multiple commissioners’ meetings.

"I wish the two of you and the Haddon Township residents and employees the best future," he said.

Dougherty, first elected to the commission in 2007, oversaw the township’s finances.

Westmont car crash

Dougherty was charged after he rear-ended a woman’s car at a traffic light at Haddon Avenue and Cuthbert Boulevard on the night of July 19, according to a police report.

Dougherty reported the 9:15 p.m. accident about 20 minutes later in a phone call from his home to township Police Chief Mark Cavallo, according to a summary prepared by Haddon Township police Capt. Scott Bishop.

In a July 23 email to Cavallo, Bishop said he prepared the summary "as it appears the circumstances reported to you are different than those reported to the two officers who responded to Commissioner Dougherty's residence."

Bishop's account said Cavallo, in dispatching officers to Dougherty's home, had indicated the commissioner's wife "was involved in a motor vehicle crash ... and returned to her residence after becoming nervous."

Dougherty has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a license. His driver's license had expired in April, police said.

His case is expected to be heard Monday night in municipal court in Estell Manor, Atlantic County. That site was chosen to avoid a conflict of interest with Dougherty's public positions.

Dougherty also has served as municipal prosecutor in Gloucester City, where he has been on interim leave since being charged with the motor-vehicle offenses.

Jim Walsh; @jimwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com