Oxycontin News Blog

A Ringwood police officer was arrested Thursday on charges that he leaked secret information to the targets of a steroid ring investigation, and authorities said more officers could be arrested.

Officers from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office arrested Paul Kleiber Jr. shortly after he reported to work at police headquarters Thursday morning. The officer was suspended without pay pending the investigation's outcome.

Kleiber's arrest comes 14 months after the launch of a probe into whether several officers tipped off drug dealers that a countywide raid was coming.

A sweep had been set for Aug. 9, 2004, after a three-month probe, but because of the leak investigators were forced to act hours earlier than planned, officials said. The investigators arrested 19 North Jersey residents and dismantled a large steroid and cocaine ring, officials said.

The bust was the work of a joint narcotics task force made up of sheriff's officers, municipal police and investigators from the Prosecutor's Office.

Kleiber, 27, of West Milford, acted "in betrayal of his office" and "seriously compromised an investigation that he played a key role in," said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jay W. McCann, head of the Governmental Corruption and White Collar Crime Unit.

McCann said Kleiber was working undercover on the bust, and was supposed to try to buy drugs from the network that allegedly peddled anabolic steroids, the painkiller OxyContin, cocaine and prescription medications. Instead, McCann said, Kleiber tipped off the dealers during July and August 2004.

McCann said the probe of officers took more than a year because the Prosecutor's Office wanted to make sure of its suspects. Investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, he said, and reviewed countless hours of wiretaps.

McCann said "a number" of arrests are imminent. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities have several leads, officials said.

Kleiber, who joined the Ringwood force in 2002, entered pleas of not guilty Thursday afternoon to official misconduct, hindering apprehension and conspiracy. Official misconduct, the most serious charge against him, carries a prison term of five to 10 years.

He appeared in Superior Court in Paterson hours after his arrest, dressed in a white hooded sweatshirt and jeans. Judge Marilyn C. Clark set his bail at $50,000 and said the charges were so serious that, if found guilty, they could prevent him from working in law enforcement again. Family members posted $5,000 cash bail.

William Marotta, Kleiber's lawyer, said they await to see what evidence prosecutors have to offer.

Kleiber is the third officer arrested in connection with the leak. Pompton Lakes Patrolman Dennis Prima was arrested in August 2004 and charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs and official misconduct. Passaic County Sheriff's Officer Gerald Ward was arrested in December and charged with official misconduct and hindering apprehension.

Those cases are pending, and are scheduled to be presented to a grand jury.

The alleged dealers arrested in the sweep, which targeted street traffic, are facing charges in Superior Court in Paterson of possession, possession with intent to distribute and operating a controlled dangerous substance distribution network.

Grand juries are usually picked from the same pool as trial juries, but serve a different role. The grand jury is made up of 23 people who decide only if there is "probable cause" that a crime was committed - meaning that the evidence should be weighed at trial.

A judge is not present in those hearings - only the prosecutor, some witnesses and their attorneys - and the grand jury is allowed to ask questions. A trial jury decides if someone is guilty.

Prosecutors said more police officers could be arrested in the coming weeks as the investigation continues.

Evidence will be presented to a special grand jury in January.

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