Pension Denied For Middlesex County Judge Accused Of Hiding Her Boyfriend From Woodbridge Police

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Former Middlesex County Superior Court judge Carlia Brady cannot collect her $141,750-a-year lifetime pension because she was charged in 2013 with hiding her boyfriend — who was wanted for armed robbery — inside her home, an NJ appeals court ruled last week.

While all the criminal charges against Brady were eventually dismissed, the NJ appellate court ruled in their Nov. 12 decision that Brady could not collect the pension because she only served a short time as a Superior Court judge. They also said she "dishonored the bench."

"After dishonoring the bench just over two months into her relatively brief judicial service, a lifetime pension amounting to three-fourths of her judicial salary would be an unwarranted windfall," wrote the appeals court. "The very short length of service, coupled with the serious breach of public trust committed by (Brady), outweighed her entitlement to a lifetime pension."

Brady was trying to collect $141,750 a year, for life, which was three-fourths of her $189,000 yearly salary as a judge.

She was arrested in 2013 and indicted in 2015 on charges that she hid her boyfriend, Jason Prontnicki, in her home. She lived in Woodbridge at the time. Prontnicki was wanted by police for robbing Woods Pharmacy in Old Bridge of drugs, a crime for which he was ultimately convicted and served prison time. Prontnicki threatened the drug store owner with a crowbar while demanding pills, said police.

Brady and Prontnicki had been involved in a romantic relationship for about six months, and Prontnicki was living with the judge in her Woodbridge home, according to court records.

According to the Somerset County Prosecutor, Brady knew there was a warrant for Prontnicki's arrest, but she specifically hid him in her home on June 10 and June 11, 2013. The prosecutor said she gave Woodbridge Police, who were looking for Prontnicki, "intentionally vague" information about Prontnicki's whereabouts on those dates.

Woodbridge Police began the investigation in 2013, but it was transferred to the Somerset County Prosecutor, as Brady was a sitting Middlesex County Superior Court judge at the time.

Brady was charged with second-degree official misconduct and two counts of third-degree hindering apprehension in 2013. She was removed from the bench immediately after her arrest, and she was indicted in 2015.

Prontnicki was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for the pharmacy robbery.

Brady pleaded not guilty. In 2016, a trial court dismissed the misconduct charge against her, but did not dismiss the hindering charges. Two years later, the additional charges against her were dismissed, but with prejudice.

Initially, Brady was removed from the bench indefinitely, but the New Jersey Supreme Court said she could be reinstated as a Superior Court judge after all the charges against her were dropped. However, Brady claimed she suffered serious health problems and became permanently disabled because of the criminal prosecution against her. In 2020, she applied for permanent disability, saying she had post-traumatic stress disorder, was diagnosed as bipolar II and had major depression and anxiety, caused by the unsuccessful criminal prosecution and the stress of being removed as a judge.

Gov. Phil Murphy and the NJ Supreme Court approved her for disability retirement, and she began receiving disability retirement benefits in 2021, according to court records.

But the Judicial Retirement System ordered Brady to forfeit her pension benefits because of what they said was her dishonorable service as a judge. Brady appealed their decision and last week, an appellate court ruled against her, according to their Nov. 12 decision.

The case was called Carlia M. Brady vs. Board of Trustees of the NJ Judicial Retirement System. You can read it here: https://www.njcourts.gov/syste...

Brady was New Jersey's first Filipino American to become a Superior Court judge.