Probation Officer Sues Middlesex County Prosecutor, Alleging Racial Discrimination

PERTH AMBOY, NJ — A former Middlesex County probation chief filed a lawsuit against the Middlesex County Prosecutor, alleging a first assistant prosecutor was racially hostile to both him and minority teens on probation.

Leroy Peterson has since quit Middlesex County and now works as the chief of probation in Mercer County. He was first hired as a probation officer in Middlesex in 2013. He alleges in the suit that first assistant prosecutor Chris Kuberiet led a "race-based hostile environment," and that Kuberiet sought harsher penalties for teenage minorities than for white juveniles on probation.

The "unfair treatment of black youth was hurtful and deeply troubling to the plaintiff who, as a Black man, was affronted by Kuberiet's behavior," the suit states.

A spokeswoman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor said they would not be commenting.

Kuberiet did not immediately respond to the allegations made against him.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 18 and available here, does not name Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone as a defendant, but her office was named, as was the Middlesex County Superior Court.

Peterson, a Perth Amboy resident, was promoted to assistant Middlesex County chief of probation, where he was responsible for overseeing adults and youths being put on probation. In that capacity, Peterson said he and Kuberiet "regularly worked together to coordinate various probation matters."

However, their professional relationship soured in 2021. The lawsuit alleges that Kuberiet's "discriminatory campaign" began with "completely inappropriate and unprofessional emails."

Peterson said it was his job to give recommendations to the county prosecutor on teenagers being put on probation, and his recommendations "were nearly always followed by the prosecutors. However, that was not (Peterson's) experience with Kuberiet."

Peterson said that over the three years they worked together, Kuberiet "worked to undermine and dismiss (him) at every opportunity."

Peterson said Kuberiet not only disagreed with him, but "seemed intent ... on publicly shaming and ridiculing him," regularly copying his supervisors and Prosecutor Ciccone on emails between the two men. He said Kuberiet would ignore or dismiss his recommendations and tell him dismissively "OK, bud."

Peterson said he and Kuberiet would most often disagree when a teen violated parole. He also said Kuberiet treated juveniles differently when they were a racial minority, including that he once accused a teenager of color of being a gang member without any evidence.

Peterson said Kubriet would routinely question why the Probation Division did not file probation violations for what Peterson said were "minor incidents," "especially when it involved a person of color.”

This 2025 study from Human Rights Watch found the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office petitioned for juvenile cases to be tried as adults more than any other prosecutor in the state. Their study also found Black youths were nineteen times more likely to be waived out of the youth justice system than white youths.

He also alleged Kuberiet would not share the same documents with him that he would with other white colleagues, and that Kuberiet once subpoenaed him to testify in court, an unusual move that he took as harassment, retaliation and discrimination.

During an April 18, 2024 court hearing, Peterson said he was speaking to the judge about a teen on probation and said "Kuberiet had reached out to —"

To which Kuberiet angrily interrupted: "I'm not Kuberiet. I don't care what he calls me, but it's not Kuberiet."

Peterson said "he quickly corrected himself and said First Assistant Kuberiet —" and Kuberiet continued "It could be master, it could be mister, but I'm not Kuberiet!"

Peterson said another assistant prosecutor, Akesha Williams, was in the courtroom that day and she privately "had a conversation with (him) where she expressed her shock and disgust at Kuberiet's racist statements."

Peterson said he reported Kuberiet multiple times to his superiors, and nothing was ever done.

In January, he said the Middlesex County Prosecutor did launch an investigation into his allegations of racism from Kuberiet, including the remark allegedly made in court that day, but the prosecutor found his complaints unsubstantiated. Instead, Ciccone's office called Kuberiet's alleged comments "conduct unbecoming an employee of the Prosecutor's office."

Peterson said he has since retired from being a probation officer. In his lawsuit, he is seeking to have Kuberiet fired from his job as first assistant prosecutor. He is also seeking financial damages. His lawsuit was filed by Neil Mullin and Jesse Sengstacke of the Smith Mullin law firm in Montclair.