HACKENSACK, N.J. - A DARE officer who spent the past year warning elementary school students about the dangers of drugs was arrested at his home over the weekend. The charge: selling drugs.
Narcotics investigators with the Bergen County (N.J.) Prosecutor's Office on Friday seized 414 Ecstasy pills and 50 bottles of ketamine, an animal tranquilizer known as "Special K," from the home of Michael Hurley, 32, an eight-year veteran of the Bayonne Police Department, Bergen Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.
Both are party drugs, commonly taken at trendy nightclubs by young people.
Also arrested was Hurley's housemate, Bruce Piechocki, 30, a three-year patrol veteran of the same department, on a charge of third-degree official misconduct. He did not participate in the alleged sales but lives with Hurley in Bayonee, N.J., and should have known about the illegal activity, Molinelli said.
Bayonne Police Director Mark Smith said he and the school superintendent plan to monitor the students' reaction to the news when they return to school in September.
If the children seem to be left asking questions, he said, "We will map out a strategy to explain to these kids that this particular DARE officer made a mistake, made choices that are wrong, and will pay the consequences."
Both of the officers turned in their weapons and were suspended without pay Friday.
Smith said there would be an internal hearing this week to present them with "a litany" of departmental charges.
"This is in no way indicative of this police department," he said. "We don't condone it."
The investigation began last week when Bergen County narcotics detectives got a tip from an informant that Hurley was selling drugs.
The original undercover drug purchases were to take place in Rutherford, but the location changed at the last minute to Hurley's home in Bayonne, Molinelli said.
Late Thursday, the detectives purchased Ecstasy from Hurley at his two-family home, he said.
The detectives notified the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office of their investigation and returned Friday afternoon for another purchase. That time, they bought 75 Ecstasy pills from Hurley, he said.
Hurley was arrested without incident and charged with Ecstasy possession with the intent to distribute, Ecstasy distribution, ketamine possession with the intent to distribute, and drug distribution within 1,000 feet of a school.
He was taken to the Bergen County Jail and released Saturday on $50,000 bail. Piechocki was released on his recognizance. They will be prosecuted in Hudson County.
Molinelli said the investigation came about quickly and detectives are trying to determine whether Hurley was selling drugs in Bergen County.
Speaking on his son's behalf, Hurley's father declined to comment on the charges, saying it was "premature" to do so.
Michael Hurley Sr., who is retired as a captain of the Bayonne Police Department, resigned in 1999 after investigators videotaped him delivering newspapers on the midnight shift from his marked patrol car, a police source said.
Commonly known as the "hug drug," Ecstasy is a stimulant that strips its users of their inhibitions and pumps up the heart rate and blood pressure.
It can also produce blurred vision, fainting, chills, sweating, muscle tension, and disorientation, warns the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Web site.
Special K can act as a hallucinogen and is known to produce dreamlike states.
The drug impairs motor functions, elevates blood pressure, and causes respiratory problems.
___
(c) 2002, The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.hello there & you too
