Resisting attorney general’s recommendation, Clark won’t fire police chief

Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso and other local officials have declined to fire Police Chief Pedro Matos for covering for making racist comments and covering up a now-show job in his department, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

In a scathing report issued last month, the attorney general’s office declined to charge Matos criminally, but found that he lied to them during their investigation, and failed to conduct internal affairs investigations or self-report misconduct allegations.

“He was aware that these allegations pertained to potentially criminal conduct,” the report stated.   “Such findings would render someone unfit to be an officer – let alone the leader of a law enforcement agency.”

The attorney general’s office had recommended Matos be terminated.  He is currently on paid administrative leave while the Union County Prosecutor maintains control of the local police department.

But under state law, Attorney General Matt Platkin does not have the legal authority to fire Matos from his $152,000-per-year job.

In 2020, Clark paid a police lieutenant $400,000 to settle a lawsuit that would have pre-empted the release of secret recordings of Bonaccorso and Matos making racist and misogynistic slurs.

The township is also not Sgt. Joseph Teston, the head of the internal affairs unit.

Bonaccorso is currently facing criminal charges that he used his mayor’s office to run his private tank removal business and submitted fake paperwork to almost two dozen municipalities.