ICYMI: Franklin Cop Pleads Guilty To Heroin Charges: SCPO

FRANKLIN, NJ — A Franklin Township police officer has pleaded guilty to drug charges, according to a release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Matthew Ellery, 29, pleaded guilty on Friday to possession of heroin and driving while intoxicated.

Ellery, of Middlesex, was found overdosing in his police cruiser while on duty, the release says. He will go through a five-year Somerset County Drug Court program as part of a plea agreement. If he fails to complete the program, he faces three to five years in prison.

On April 7, 2019, around 1 a.m., Ellery was on duty. The department tried to contact him over his radio, but he didn't respond, according to the release. Another officer went to Ellery's last known location and found his police cruiser in the driveway of a business on Bennetts Lane.

The responding officer, also an EMT, found Ellery unresponsive in the driver's seat. He recognized Ellery as being in an opiate overdose, pulled him out and gave him two doses of naloxone. Ellery regained consciousness. He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital to recover.

Ellery's driver's license has also been suspended for seven months and was fired from the Franklin Township Police Department, the release says.

The former cop is set to be sentenced on Aug. 23.