Former sheriff sues Gloucester County for alleged racial discrimination, retaliation

Updated Jan. 15 at 4:32 p.m.

In 2021, Republican Jonathan Sammons beat a Democratic incumbent to become Gloucester County’s sheriff. Weeks later, the Democratic-controlled county government moved the sheriff’s office out of the county administrative office and into a decommissioned jail building, which Sammons said was moldy, lacked potable water, and swung wildly in temperature.

Now, Sammons is suing Gloucester County and Gloucester County Administrator Chad Bruner for alleged racial discrimination, violations of a retaliation protection law, and violations of New Jersey’s Civil Rights Act.

The lawsuit also claims Bruner and county government officials mistreated and retaliated against Sammons throughout his term because he was Black and a Republican. Sammons alleges that Bruner, a Democrat, placed the sheriff in an office unfit for day-to-day work and excluded him from vital meetings like budget sessions attended by the prior sheriff.

“The discrimination includes, but is not limited to, moving [Sammons’] office from the County Administration Building to the decommissioned jail, putting him in a moldy office, giving his office furniture that they found in dumpsters and was literally trash, excluding him from departmental meetings such as the budgetary meetings for his department, putting a GPS in his work vehicle, denying his department vehicles that were allocated to it in the budget, and undermining and interfering with his ability to act as Sheriff of Gloucester County by withholding assistance and support,” the lawsuit reads.

Gloucester County officials faced ire from Republicans when the decision to move Sammons’ office became public in 2021. Republican Commissioner Nick DeSilvio said the move went beyond typical political chicanery and called it “modern-day segregation.”

Sammons has since lost re-election to a Democrat, and the lawsuit claims the county government is now preparing to move the sheriff’s office back into the County Administration Building.

Bruner did not immediately return a request for comment.

William Cook, an attorney representing Gloucester County, rebuked the allegations: “The County generally does not comment on litigation however due to the absurdity of the former Sheriff’s allegations and the fact that they are absolutely meritless, the County will be aggressively defending itself against all of them.”

Sammons defeated incumbent Democratic Sheriff Carmel Morina in a tight November 2021 race. In the lawsuit, the Republican claims he faced the cold shoulder from the moment he was elected. He says Morina didn’t attend meetings and lacked professionalism during the transition between sheriffs.

Sammons’ suit argues the poor conditions and mistreatment were no coincidence. It points out that Bruner was elected the Gloucester County Democratic Chairman in June 2022. The suit claims Bruner and Gloucester County officials deprived Sammons of his free speech because of his political affiliations.

Sammons said his newly created office failed to meet the standards of a professional office. The filing says the office was cheaply painted, had adhesive carpet panels, and held furniture pulled from dumpsters.

The suit also alleges Sammons was assigned a vehicle with GPS tracking, but demanded it be removed when he learned Morina’s vehicle did not have such tracking.

The ex-sheriff claims the office did not have working water fountains or potable water — he was allegedly told the county would not purchase water coolers. Gloucester officials at one point did fix a water fountain, though.

“Throughout [Sammons’] tenure with Defendants he and his office were denied necessary resources, equipment, assistance from the County, and other essential assistance in running a paramilitary, law enforcement organization,” the lawsuit says.

The political maneuvers to remove Sammons from the county’s center of power are not without precedent. In 2001, then-Gloucester County Freeholder Director Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) chose to suddenly move his Republican colleague Raymond Zane II into a smaller office.

Zane cried foul and said Sweeney was retaliating against him because he had voted against Sweeney to be freeholder director, charges which Sweeney denied. Sweeney went on to defeat Zane’s father later that year in the 3rd Senate district – a seat he would hold until he got swept out in the same election that put Sammons in office.

Morina defeated Sammons by 569 votes in a rematch this past November, giving the Democrat a sixth term in the shrievalty and knocking Sammons out of the government. Sammons alleges that Bruner and Gloucester County officials used official Gloucester social media accounts to influence the election to help Morina and other Democratic candidates.

Since his November loss, Sammons has declared his intention to seek the Republican nomination to Gloucester’s Board of Commissioners.

Sammons filed the 13-page lawsuit in the Superior Court’s Law Division in Atlantic County last week. The suit claims the judge assigned to Gloucester County, Russell DePersia, is a “vital witness.”

“Plaintiff has suffered annoyance, inconvenience, stress, anxiety, humiliation, depression, physical pain and suffering, emotional distress and pecuniary loss,” the suit reads.

Sammons’ lawsuit is related to a similar filing against Gloucester County. Sammons’ former confidential aide, Jeanine Philips, filed suit against the county after officials stopped paying her after she submitted her hours on a timesheet instead of using a time clock (she said the sheet was necessary to account for unusual hours outside of the normal 8-hour schedule).

Philips’ lawsuit claims the Gloucester County employee manual allows workers to use either a timesheet or a time clock, but the policy was ignored by Gloucester officials.

That lawsuit, in which Sammons has intervened as a plaintiff, is now pending in federal court.

This post was updated to include comment from attorney William Cook, who is representing Gloucester County.