News from Around Camden County

In the wake of police layoffs, Camden Mayor Dana Redd and police Chief Scott Thomson will join several local and state politicians on Monday to talk about developing contingency plans for the safety of citizens in the city and county.

Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr., Deputy Director Ed McDonnell and Freeholder Ian Leonard—a Camden resident—will join state Sen. Sen. Donald Norcross and Assemblymen Gilbert Wilson and Angel Fuentes also will participate in the meeting.

The gathering comes as Camden plans to lay off nearly half of its police force because of budget constraints.

The group will convene Monday, Dec. 13, at 9 a.m., in the board room of Camden County College's Technology Center in Camden. The meeting won't be open to the public. Following the meeting, information, developments or any possible blueprints for action will be released.

Cappelli said the county has 20 law enforcement agencies, including state police; the Camden County Sheriff's Department; FBI; U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, county park police and the Delaware River Port Authority, plus Rutgers and Rowan university police.

In other news,  a Gloucester Township Public Works employee who locked a black co-worker in a storage cage and then racially taunted him was found guilty Thursday of bias intimidation and official misconduct. 

A state Superior Court jury in Camden returned the guilty verdicts against 32-year-old David T. Pomianek following about six hours of deliberations. 

The jury found Pomianek, a township resident, guility of two counts of harrassment, two counts of bias intimidation and one count of official misconduct. 

Pomianek was accused in the April 2007 incident of luring a black co-worker into a storage cage 17 feet off the ground in the township's Public Works building on Erial Road. Pomianek and another co-worker, 30-year-old township resident Michael Dorazo Jr., then padlocked the cage, holding the victim inside for three to 10 minutes, authorities said. Pomianek and Dorazo then hurled racially charged insults at the man, comparing him to a monkey, according to prosecutors. 

Dorazo is awaiting trial on the same charges of which Pomianek was found guilty, as well as one count of false imprisonment.

Pomianek's sentencing is scheduled for Jan.  21, 2011 before Superior Court Judge Ronald Freeman.

Also in Gloucester Township, more than 1,000 people attended a "full police honors" memorial service Thursday afternoon at Gloucester Township Community Park to honor "Schultz," a 3-year-old German shepherd that died Nov. 30 after a robbery suspect allegedly tossed him into oncoming Route 42 traffic.

The staggeringly large crowd came out despite blustery winds and temperatures barely in the mid-30s.

"To show respect for what these guys do and the dogs, the animals do," Joe Valentino, a 20-year Blackwood resident with no connection to law enforcement, responded when asked why he came to the service. "It was a real 'grabber,' that story. I mean, take a look around. I'm not alone."

Schultz" had tracked Robinson and alleged co-conspirator Evan J. Scotese, 19, of Jonathan Drive, Sewell, about a half-mile from the restaurant to a set of bushes located just off Route 42.

While the dog was attempting to apprehend Robinson, the suspect "managed to throw Schultz" into the southbound lanes of Route 42, where a car struck the K-9, police said. "Schultz" died at the scene.

Patch editors Deena DiBacco, Tim Zatzariny Jr. and Sean McCullen contributed to this report