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FREEHOLD — The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office [MCPO] has released a redacted version of the summary and conclusions report into Bradley Beach Police Chief Leonard Guida.
“The picture the report paints is not pretty,” Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said in the department’s announcement Friday.
The MCPO found, in seven of the nine cases examined, that Chief Guida violated numerous Bradley Beach Police Department Rules and Regulations. The investigation used body-worn camera [BWC] footage, interviews with officers and interviews with Mr. Guida to judge, in accordance with the departments rules and regulations, the Chief’s misconducts.
“The findings outlined in this report illustrate unmistakably that over the previous year and a half, Chief Guida has been an active hindrance to the very law enforcement agency he was entrusted to lead,” said Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago “The picture the report paints is not pretty – but that is precisely why we felt that it was so vitally important to publicly release it.”
In the letter addressed to Bradley Beach Mayor Larry Fox and Acting Borough Administrator Meredith DeMarco, the office of the county prosecutor detailed nine separate incidents involving Mr. Guida dating back to 2022 that were investigated. The report; however, concluded by not recommending disciplinary action against Mr. Guida, due to his expected retirement.
According to the report, in seven incidents the MCPO found Mr. Guida in violation of eleven department rules and regulations [some on multiple occasions], the Bradley Beach employee handbook, the MCPO early intervention policy and several International Association of Privacy Professionals investigation procedures.
In one incident, Chief Guida unlawfully detained a resident of Ocean Grove on their way home from work. According to the report, during the interview of the incident Mr. Guida was contradictory, inaccurate and blamed his subordinates.
“We find that detention to be in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, section 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, which protect individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures. Accordingly, the detention correspondingly violates the aforementioned rules,” the report says.
Included in the report was a Nov. 9 interaction between Chief Guida and a Bradley Beach police sergeant at the scene of a traffic accident on Main Street. A police body cam video of such an incident, which has garnered over 4 million views on Youtube, shows an altercation between the chief and Bradley Beach Police Sgt. William Major.
According to the report, “Sgt. Major said that he was “not proud” of how he reacted, but that when the Chief grabbed him, he felt that a drunk person was pulling him in an unsafe manner in the roadway. With respect to his statement to Chief Guida that “you’re drunk again,” Sgt. Major stated that Chief Guida has been coming to work intoxicated in the past 6 months. Sgt. Major also referred to Chief Guida getting “physical” with subordinate officers more recently and his propensity to hinder officers from doing their jobs at accident scenes and other incidents.”
According the report, “Chief Guida stated that his subordinates are out to get him. He stated that the officers who provided information in this matter are “not credible”.
In the Nov. 9 incident alone the MCPO made sustained findings that Mr. Guida violated nine separate department rules and regulations, and found through BWC footage, interviews and outside observations that he was under the influence of alcohol on duty at the scene.
“Since we make a finding that Chief Guida was intoxicated, we must make the corresponding finding that Chief Guida was untruthful in his interview with this office when he denied consuming any alcohol prior to the incident with Sgt. Major. Again, the standard is preponderance of the evidence. The overwhelming weight of the evidence as outlined above indicates that Chief Guida had consumed alcohol prior to arriving at the scene of the DWI crash.”
The report confirmed that prior to the Nov. 9 incident, the chief was being investigated for two separate internal affairs investigations.
The report conclusion in part read: “It is our understanding that Chief Guida is retiring as of March 1, 2024 and that he will be using accumulated leave time through his date of retirement. Given these circumstances, which presuppose that Chief Guida does not return to the Bradley Beach Police Department in any capacity and at any time, we do not make a disciplinary recommendation in this case.” The report continued, “However, should those circumstances change, and Chief Guida express an intention to return to duty as Chief, or to not retire as represented, please contact my office as we will wish to provide a disciplinary recommendation to the Borough.”
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