A New Jersey State Police academy instructor’s “endless sexual harassment and unwanted sexual advances” forced a female recruit to abandon her dream of becoming a state trooper, the woman alleges in a federal lawsuit.

The recruit, identified only by the initials “S.S.," alleges the instructor, Trooper Stephen Spitaleri, singled her out among the other recruits at the Sea Girt academy, constantly ordering her to perform tasks that would place the two of them alone, making comments about her appearance and even asking her out on dates.

“I bet you look different outside of here, but I still think you look good,” the instructor told the 28-year-old woman, according to the complaint. “If I’m in your area over the weekend and I invited you to dinner, would you go?”

The recruit resisted his advances, but “was not in a position to refuse the orders of a superior without jeopardizing her position in the academy and her career," her attorney said.

Maj. Brian Polite, a State Police spokesman, said he could not comment on “ongoing litigation.” He confirmed Spitaleri was currently assigned to field operations in the division’s Troop B.

The trooper could not be reached for comment and a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, which typically represents troopers in civil cases, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spitaleri made headlines in 2012 when he pulled over an erratic driver and discovered $783,000 hidden in a hydraulic compartment in the SUV. State payroll records show Spitaleri was recently promoted and made a salary of $81,840 last year.

The allegations come at a time when the State Police is pushing to diversify its ranks by recruiting more minority and female troopers. Data from 2018 shows just five percent of state troopers are women.

The suit was brought Thursday by attorney Robert Fuggi, who in recent months has filed a number of high-profile cases alleging clergy sex abuse and rape at a firefighters academy.

The alleged behavior stretched on for 13 weeks between January and April of this year and did not go unnoticed by the woman’s fellow recruits and superior officers, the suit claims. At one point, other recruits began asking about their relationship and referring to Spitaleri as the woman’s “husband.”

The suit alleges Spitaleri would call the woman by her first name in front of other recruits and would pull her out of the lunch line to place her in handcuffs. The suit notes it is part of academy practice to engage in handcuff exercises, but typically it involves recruits cuffing other recruits.

In her case, the woman alleges, Spitaleri would cuff her himself and, in one case, grabbed her hand “to touch her inappropriately.”

On another occasion, when the recruit was feeling ill and in the academy’s quarantine room, the instructor allegedly came to check on her, telling her he “missed her.” She claimed he told her that she was missing training on conducting pat-downs, but that he was going to give her a lesson “one-on-one.”

The advances caused the woman anxiety and sleep loss, the suit claims.

The female recruit took to hiding in the bathroom during free time to avoid the instructor, the suit claims, and the advances caused her anxiety, depression and sleep loss. At one point, she wondered whether the whole thing was an exercise set up as a “test of her integrity.”

Ultimately, the suit claims, she was forced to resign before completing the 24-week training.

Superior officers urged the recruit to stay, the suit claims. A lieutenant allegedly told her he had seen the recruit and Spitaleri alone in a hallway and his “cop instinct” told him “something wasn’t right.” The suit claims this showed superior officers were aware of the instructor’s conduct.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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