Crime & Safety
Monmouth Co. Officer Looked Up Woman Using Database, Asked Her Out: Prosecutor
He saw a woman getting her child from elementary school, found her address using her license plate and then went to her home, police allege.
NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A Neptune Township police officer was criminally charged for illegally using a pair of computer databases to look up personal information about a woman, and then traveling to her home, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced Thursday.
Joshua A. James, 29, is charged with third-degree Computer-Related Criminal Activity.
An investigation led by members of the MCPO Professional Responsibility Unit revealed James was working a detail outside a local elementary school earlier this month when he noticed a woman picking up her child.
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He then looked up her license plate and home address in two law enforcement databases intended strictly for policing purposes, said the prosecutor.
James then drove to the woman’s home and asked if she was single, and whether he could have her phone number. James was arrested and criminally charged earlier this week. He has been suspended from duty by the Neptune Township Police Department.
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Anyone with information about James’s activities is being urged to contact MCPO Detective Ryan Mahony at 800-533-7443.
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