Princeton Township Promotes Five Police Officers

Five Princeton Township police officers received promotions on Monday night and the department now has two new sergeants and three new corporals. 

The new sergeants are JoAnne Malta and Frederick Williams. The new corporals are  Marla Montague, Anthony Paccillo and Matthew Solovay. 

This is the second set of department promotions since late April, when Sgts. Christopher Morgan and Robert Toole were promoted to the rank of lieutenant, a step towards fully staffing the department after losing its former chief and two top ranking officers in the wake of a criminal investigation last year.

Police Chief Bob Buchanon said on Monday that he has the go-ahead to now hire three new patrol officers, which will bring the department up to full staff. 

At Monday's Township Committee meeting, the five officers being promoted were accompnied by their families for the official swearing-in ceremony and also congratulated by fellow members  of their department, many of whom showed up off-duty to offer their support.

Candidates were judged on their job performance, file review, written exam and an oral exam, Buchanan said. 

He said all of the candidates performed well. 

"There's no doubt about it, I have all good people," Buchanan said after the swearing-in ceremony. 

Monday's promotions moved the department another step forward from an incident that happened in 2010. 

On Oct. 1, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office seized day-to-day control of the department and launched an investigation into then-Chief Mark Emman, Lt. Michael Henderson and Cpl. Arthur Villaruz for allegedly selling township property. 

All three were served with administrative charges and suspended from duty. They have all since resigned.

The following officers received promotions on Monday:

Sgt. JoAnne Malta graduated from the John H. Stamler Police Academy in Union county in 1993 and joined the township police department almost immediately. She has bachelors degrees in social work and psychology from Kean College and a master’s in education from Seton Hall University. She has served as a patrol officer, a member the Community Action Team and most recently as a corporal in the patrol division. She also  has specialized training as a crisis negotiator, bicycle patrol officer and a field training officer. She lives with domestic partner Michaela and has two children, Jordan and Morgan. She is expecting her first grandchild in two weeks.

Sgt. Frederick Williams was born in New York City, raised in Hackensack and served as a military policeman in the U.S. Marine Corp.He has worked as a security director in the private sector and held a number of positions with the NJ Transit Police. He joined the township police department in 2000, worked in the patrol division and was promoted to corporal in 2003. He organizes Princeton’s Annual Community Night Out Event. He is also the department firearms instructor, police academy instructor and field training officer. Married to Lorraine and the father of three grown daughters: Keyonna, Jessica and Elyse. He is also a grandfather to 5-year old Brianee.

Corp. Anthony Paccillo joined the township police department in 2001 and has been in the patrol bureau since that time. He is a former patrol officer for the City of Trenton Police Department, where he was assigned to the patrol bureau and also served in the Pro-active Street Crime Narcotics Drug Enforcement Unit for six years. He graduated from the Trenton Police Academy. He has an associates degree in criminal justice from Mercer County Community College and a bachelor’s degree form Thomas Edison State College in criminal justice. He lives in Hamilton Township with his wife Toni. They have three children, Giovanna, 12, Anthony, 11, and Nicholas, 6.

Corp. Matthew Solway was born and raised in Edison. He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Seton Hall University and is enrolled in a master’s degree program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.He joined the township police department in 2005 and has served in the patrol and traffic bureaus. In 2009, he was honored with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the police Honor Guard, field training program, awards committee, serves as an agency instructor in many police-related fields and is the state delegate for the Policeman’s Benevolent Association Local #387. He lives in Hamilton with his wife Kathryn and their son Charlie. 

Corp. Marla Montague was born and raised in Brookville, Indiana, graduated from the Somerset County Police Academy and joined the township police department in 1998. She has served as a patrol officer, bicycle patrol officer, field training officer and is the department’s first female firearm and sub-machine gun instructor.  In 2001, she was awarded the department’s honorable service award for apprehending a burglary suspect. She and her husband Robert, a detective with the Cranford Police Department, live in Jackson and have three daughters, Courtney, Kayla and Whitney.