Three of the five Hackensack police officers fired by the city last year will be able to keep their jobs after being found guilty of unlawfully breaking into an apartment building.

Two of those officers have been suspended and the third officer will be fully reinstated, the state Civil Service Commission decided Wednesday.

The commission upheld Hackensack's decision to fire Detective Mark Gutierrez for allegedly falsifying a police report from the day of the break-in and Sgt. Justin de la Bruyere for signing the report, said lawyers for the city and one of the officers.

All the decisions can be appealed.

The commission's decision goes against administrative law Judge Susanna Guerrero's decision last month that all five officers could return to active duty and would retain their most recent ranks.

Both Detective Rocco Duardo and Officer Victor Vazquez will be suspended for six months, said Ray Wiss, the city's labor attorney. Upholding Guerrero's decision, the commission decided to reinstate Detective Joseph Gonzales and reverse all of the city's charges against him, said Robert Biagiotti, Gonzales's attorney.

"Although we are pleased that the Civil Service Commission upheld the termination of two former officers and imposed the maximum suspension of 180 days that is allowed by law on two others, we are not fully satisfied with today's decision," Mayor John Labrosse said in a statement.

A spokesman for the commission declined to comment. Calls to attorneys for De la Bruyere, Duardo, Gutierrez and Vazquez were not immediately returned.

The commission's decision is the latest development in a nearly two-year saga that started when the five officers, along with two ranking officers who have since retired, were accused of breaking into a Prospect Avenue apartment without a warrant. On May 9, 2017, the five officers and two ranking officers were abruptly suspended, effectively dismantling the narcotics unit at the time.

Gurbir Grewal, then the Bergen County prosecutor, decided to dismiss eight separate narcotics cases involving 16 defendants, including a known gang member and others with prior convictions and violent histories, because they were connected to the officers. The dismissals were a result of the city's internal affairs investigation into the five officers and two ranking officers. An unknown number of Municipal Court cases were also dismissed.

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Last February, after the investigation and upon a hearing officer's recommendation, the city fired the five officers, concluding they entered into apartment C7 at the Sheldon Arms without a warrant and then tried to cover it all up.

The termination order for the officers was dated retroactive to the May 2017 suspension date, Wiss said.

The hearing officer's recommendation had called for Gonzales to face only a six-month suspension, but the city decided to terminate him as well.

The Sheldon Arms visit

The internal affairs investigation and ensuing hearings and litigation were sparked by an anonymous letter sent to Capt. Peter Busciglio. The letter pointed Busciglio to Dec. 8, 2016, when the five officers and former Capt. Vincent Riotto and Lt. Scott Sybel, who both retired before the hearings, visited the Sheldon Arms.

Riotto and Sybel retired with a combined $258,450 in payouts from the city. Busciglio has since been promoted to officer-in-charge, the department's highest rank, because the post of police chief has not been filled since 2010.

With Riotto and Sybel having since retired, De La Bruyere was left as the ranking officer in the group of five who fought to get their jobs back.

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Officers were investigating a tip about drug activity in the area that day, according to the police report from the day of the search prepared by Gutierrez. But when they arrived, officers were told by an anonymous man that a child had been left alone in apartment C7.

When no one answered at the third-floor apartment, officers went in through its unlocked front door, Gutierrez wrote. The report did not include that De La Bruyere, who signed Gutierrez's report, or Riotto, the former unit commander, was present.

But the surveillance video, obtained through a public records request, did not show anyone directing officers to C7, and officers appeared to pick the locks at the entrances to the apartment building and apartment.

During the appeals proceedings in Newark, the officers said they did not break the law with the warrantless search, claiming they had a key and also had reason to believe a child might have been inside an apartment where they suspected a resident was selling weapons.

What's next?

The city and any of the officers' attorneys can file an appeal with the state.

City Manager Ted Ehrenburg said Hackensack will decide on appealing the decision after reviewing all options, city spokesman Paul Swibinski said in a statement. Ehrenberg stands by the city's position that the officers should never be reinstated, the statement said.

For Gonzales' part, Biagiotti had no plans to appeal the commission's decision.

"Obviously, we're not going to appeal it, the lawyer said. "We'll try and get him back to work."

Once a final decision is made regarding the officers' employment, hearings to determine whether the officers will ultimately receive what is called a "Brady" designation can commence.

Grewal dismissed the eight narcotics cases because the officers were categorized as "Brady Officers," which means their history of lying would have to be disclosed to defense attorneys in criminal cases.

Email: torrejon@northjersey.com

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