A former Warren County sheriff who served jail time for sex-related official misconduct charges is again the subject of a criminal investigation, more than 20 years after he resigned and left the county.

Edward Bullock, 83, of Whiting, N.J., is being investigated by the county prosecutor's office, Prosecutor Richard Burke said Friday. He would not go into details about the investigation but said his office was contacted with information that recently inspired the inquiry. He said the allegations are not in relation to recent possible crimes.

"It's in the really, really early stages," Burke said. "We can't release more information at this time."

Bullock, who had been sheriff since 1982, resigned in 1991 after he was arrested for trying to curry sexual favors from an undercover police officer posing as a teenage boy. He pleaded guilty to official misconduct and spent nine months in the Hunterdon County jail. He soon after moved to Ocean County , where he still resides.

At the time, he also admitted to using his authority over boys at Warren Acres, the county's former youth detention center, to cultivate future sex partners, and also told authorities that he had sexual contact with eight boys. No charges were filed because authorities found that the boys were 16 or older and were no longer at the detention center at the time of the encounters. The complaint also alleges that county officials were aware of the abuse but failed to take action.

Bullock said Friday he was unaware of the investigation.

"I haven't been up there in 20 some years," he said. "Why should I be mixed up in something that's going on now? I thought everything was done."

He became increasingly upset while speaking on the phone and asked to continue the call another time, citing a heart condition he feared was becoming agitated by the conversation.

The prosecutor's office would not verify if the investigation is related to a tort claim filed in September that alleges a former employee in the county sheriff's department repeatedly raped a 10-year-old boy. The claim alleges that the employee during work hours and in a county-owned vehicle, engaged in several "egregious acts of sexual abuse" sometime between 1987 and 1988.



Burke's office opened a criminal investigation involving the matter last Sept. 17, about a week after the tort claim was filed, according to a document obtained by The Express-Times. Phillipsburg attorney Brad Russo, who filed the claim, said he has been in contact with county authorities and that a criminal investigation has been opened in connection with the claim.



The claim does not identify the sheriff's department employee, and Russo said he could not identify parties involved in the claim.

"My client has been fully cooperative and eager on the criminal matter," he said. "My client really wants to deal with this head on."