NEWARK — An Essex County corrections officer was arrested with a small stash of marijuana while leaving work Sunday, prosecutors said today.

Keon Chapman faces charges of possessing contraband, a fourth-degree offense, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutors Office. He was released on a summons.

Prosecutors would not say how officials came to learn that Chapman might be carrying marijuana.

Chapman was hired by the department two years ago, according to county records.

Union officials says they learned of the arrest over the weekend.

“We don’t condone that type of behavior nor do we defend it,” said Joseph Amato, the president of the county’s corrections officers union. “We get some bad apples that come through the system now and then.”

Two weeks ago, a jury in state Superior Court convicted corrections officer Carlton Clark, 40, of aggravated assault and official misconduct charges for pummeling a female inmate in August 2011. The assault was captured on jailhouse video surveillance cameras.

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