New Jersey’s Supreme Court removed Elizabeth Municipal Court Judge Richard Obuch from the bench last month, a move that stems from accusations that he inappropriately touched three court staffers after becoming excessively drunk at a party for judges in December.
The state filed a complaint against the former judge in early July — the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct also accused him of engaging with adult entertainment figures on social media and that he posted photos of himself “embracing an adult film actress at an Exxxotica Convention” last November. The ACJC also charged him with nonconsensually kissing a court worker in a photo booth at the party.
Obuch, who had been suspended without pay since July 8, submitted an affidavit in which he admitted “the material facts alleged in the complaint are true” and “the alleged unethical conduct cannot be defended.”
The Supreme Court filed its decision to remove Obuch on Wednesday. He is now permanently banned from holding judicial office.
In Obuch’s affidavit, which the Supreme Court included in its filing, the former judge did not contest any charges made against him.
The ACJC alleged in their initial complaint that “during the three hours that he remained at the party, consumed two Old Fashioneds, Sangria, and five or more shots of tequila and vodka” and that he “was intoxicated within 45 minutes of arriving at the party, but continued to drink alcohol for more than two hours thereafter before leaving the party for the evening.”
Obuch had served as a judge in Elizabeth since 2002.
This was Obuch’s second complaint. In 2012, he was reprimanded for serving as a private lawyer for an Elizabeth City employee and becoming involved in a criminal complaint against that individual.