TOTOWA, N.J. — A New Jersey state police chief has been arrested and is currently in custody on felony charges stemming from a domestic violence incident in Massachusetts, officials and prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Carmen Veneziano, chief of the Totowa Police Department in northern New Jersey, has been arrested on charges related to the September incident in Boston, Totowa Mayor John Coiro announced on December 21st. The Boston Police Department confirmed the incident was a domestic violence incident.
Veneziano was charged on Dec. 18 with one count of kidnapping and three counts of domestic assault and battery, the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, District Attorney’s Office told USA TODAY. Prosecutors allege that Veneziano “confined and assaulted the woman” in a hotel room in the Back Bay area of Boston in the early hours of September 14th.
The police chief was arrested without incident on December 19th by officers assigned to the Passaic County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors said Mr. Veneziano waived extradition proceedings and will be taken into custody.
Mr. Veneziano is scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on December 22nd. Further details will be released at arraignment, prosecutors said.
“We were very surprised.”
After his arrest and extradition hearing on Dec. 19, Coiro said Veneziano was transferred to the Bergen County Jail. Veneziano will be transferred to a detention center in Massachusetts, the mayor said.
“We don’t know the exact charges because they haven’t told us the exact charges, but we know from prosecutors that it will be a felony if convicted,” Coiro said on Dec. 21, according to NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. “We were very surprised.”
In a statement on social media, the mayor said prosecutors had described the charges against Veneziano as “serious in nature and considered a felony.”
Coiro said that after consulting with two senior members of the borough’s Public Safety Commission, Veneziano was suspended without pay “until the legal process is completed.”
Mr Coiro said the Totowa Borough Council would appoint an interim chief by the end of the year.
Who is Carmen Veneziano?
A 1996 graduate of Passaic Valley Regional High School, Veneziano began his career at Woodland Park (then West Paterson) just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In January 2005, he provided security for President George W. Bush’s second inauguration in Washington, DC.
In June of the same year, he was transferred to Higashitowa Police Station. He replaced Commissioner Robert Coyle, who retired after 40 years of service in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Philip Devensentis is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. Email: devencentis@northjersey.com. For access to the most important news from our community, subscribe or activate your digital account.
