Robbinsville Municipal Court Judge R. Douglas Hoffman will face a hearing to determine whether he should be removed from office after a complaint alleged that he made inappropriate sexual advances toward a subordinate.
Hoffman, who first became a Robbinsville judge in 2010 and who also held judicial positions in several nearby towns, became close with a Robbinsville violations clerk, identified in the complaint only as L.W., in 2021 and 2022.
In October 2022, L.W. met Hoffman at his beach house and had several drinks with him, after which Hoffman allegedly touched L.W.’s knee and upper thigh without her consent. L.W. quickly left, and shortly afterward reported the incident to her supervisor and Robbinsville’s human resources department.
“[Hoffman], in providing alcohol to and drinking alcohol with L.W., a subordinate employee, over several hours, while that employee was a guest in his home, and in touching L. W. without her consent, violated Canon 1, Rule 1.1, and Canon 2, Rule 2.1 of the Code of Judicial Conduct,” the ACJC’s complaint states. “By the same conduct, [Hoffman] demeaned the judicial office in violation of Canon 5, Rule 5.1(A), of the Code of Judicial Conduct.”
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner today assigned Appellate Court Judge Jack Sabatino, and Assignment Judges Lisa Miralles Walsh and Carol Novey Catuogno to hold a hearing on Hoffman.
The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed its presentment against Hoffman on March 26, 2023, with a complaint on April 10.