EXCLUSIVE: Police sexting lawsuit reveals chief's messages to another cop's wife

FAR HILLS – A borough police chief sent sexually explicit text messages to the wife of one of his officers and made inappropriate overtures to the spouses of other borough employees, a lawsuit claims.

The sexual harassment and whistleblower lawsuit filed by a longtime borough police officer threatens to tarnish the 25-year law-enforcement career of former police Chief Kenneth Hartman, who announced his retirement for May 1 just as Detective Jason Shanaphy's attorney prepared to file the complaint in Superior Court in Somerville.

The complaint reveals a series of breathless, desperate and sexual messages that Hartman allegedly sent Shanaphy's wife one evening last year while sitting alone in his Denville home's garage.

"Have thought about texting you for over a year. Want to have sex with you. I'm serious," Hartman reportedly texted. "One time just you and me. One time. Darkness. Touching. Kissing. Being naughty. You and me."

In one of the messages, Hartman blames his desires for Shanaphy's wife on the fact that his own cancer-stricken wife had undergone chemotherapy.

A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE TEXTS provided in the lawsuit is at the end of this article.

"The chief's actions toward Officer Shanaphy and his wife constitute a serious abuse of his public office," the lawsuit claims. "The demand for sexual favors of a subordinate officer's spouse and accompanying implied threat of adverse treatment of a subordinate employee in the workplace if the demand was not met are the equivalent of quid pro quo sexual harassment, which is prohibited by the Law Against Discrimination."

Shanaphy is seeking an unspecified amount of damages, alleging that Hartman stifled his career and held him back from promotion.

The lawsuit depicts Hartman as a Lothario who "maintained a personal friendship" with Shanaphy's ex-wife around the time they divorced in 2008.

And Hartman's unrequited propositioning of Shanaphy's current wife, the lawsuit claims, "is not an isolated instance of such conduct toward spouses or romantic partners of employees and other representatives of the borough."

Mayor Paul Vallone on Monday declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Far Hills is a 5-square-mile borough with a population of just over 900. It is best known as the annual site of the steeplechase Far Hills Race Meeting, commonly called "the Hunt." In recent years, Hartman had been involved in efforts to clamp down on the bacchanalian atmosphere of the popular fall event.

Hartman did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday and his attorney, Eric Harrison of Methfessel & Werbel in Edison, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Shanaphy, 44, an Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm, began his career in 1994 with the Morris County Sheriff's Office. He was hired by Far Hills in 2003 and maintained an unblemished record as a detective, his lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says he "has been relegated to the position of patrolman despite his seniority and extensive training and experience, while other less experienced officers have been promoted in an arbitrary and capricious manner."

The lawsuit says Hartman prevented Shanaphy from applying to be an undercover narcotics detective with the county on the pretense that he has a young child, and that he promoted Officer Michael DeCarolis even though he had less experience.

DeCarolis was sworn in as police chief in May. At the ceremony, Council President David Karner said Hartman has "done a great job."

Shanaphy is represented by Colin M. Page, of Berkowitz, Lichstein, Kuritsky, Giasullo & Gross in Roseland, who declined to comment for this story.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com