SOMERVILLE — A Plainfield police officer was charged with official misconduct and receiving stolen property following an undercover sting conducted by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

Vincent Saggese was arrested on Friday and, shortly after his arrest, was suspended without pay pending the final disposition of the case, said Carl Riley, director of the Plainfield Police Department. Saggese, who is also a member of the Union County SWAT Team, had been on the force for 10 years and earned an annual salary of $85,924, according to the New Jersey Open Data Center.

Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said Saggese, 32, of Metuchen, met with an undercover agent from the prosecutor's office twice between March 29 and April 17 to negotiate the sale of stolen computer equipment and KnCMiner Neptune computers, which are used to "mine" for the electronic currency, Bitcoin. Bitconing mining is the process of solving certain math problems in exchange for the currency.

Soriano didn't specify where the computers were stolen from.

In addition to selling the stolen equipment, Saggese also accepted $250 from the undercover agent in exchange for providing the detective with an address of a license plate owner and to also provide a photo of that person, Soriano said.

"Such information is available to law enforcement officers through various computer platforms that are to be used solely for law enforcement purposes," Soriano said in a news release.

Detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office and the Somerville Police Department patrol division arrested Saggese in Somerville on April 17 without incident, Soriano said.

During a search of Saggese, detectives found a slip in his shirt pocket with the license plate number given to him by the undercover officer, Soriano said. The money used by the undercover agent for the computers and the $250 for the license plate information were found in a subsequent search of Saggese's vehicle, Soriano said.

Saggese was charged with official misconduct and receiving stolen property. He was released on his own recognize.

"I, of course, am very disappointed regarding the circumstances, and I'm sure his colleagues are disappointed as well," said Riley, the Plainfield police director. "On Friday, shortly after his arrest, he was suspended without pay, pending the final disposition of the case."

NJ Advance Media reporter Jessica Remo contributed to this report.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.