The level of corruption in the county government of Union in the state of New Jersey is so extreme, if it is not addressed soon, will result in many more innocent lives ruined and a legal system that can no longer be trusted. People should not be afraid to stand up for the things that are just for fear of retaliation, particularly our law enforcement. If whistleblowers are retaliated against then the obligation falls on the people to help rid our legal system of corruption.  

On September 19, 2019 Union County Police Officer Blake Clay was found guilty after fighting to clear his name by going to trial for charges in which he maintains his innocence. Judge Robert Kirsch imposed a three year State Prison sentence with a mandatory two year parole disqualifier. This same judge previously allowed the Union County Prosecutors Office to lie and present false evidence in the case against NFL player Khaseem Greene.

Officer Clay dedicated almost ten years to the Union County Police Department. He has always believed in community. For over ten years he volunteered to speak to students both in the elementary and middle school which he attended.  In addition he volunteered to speak with both Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops who requested tours of the Union County Police Department. He also spoke to several high school groups who wanted to study criminal justice in college. He was decorated with five Commendation Awards, two Excellent Police Service Awards, and was even acknowledged for his work by the DEA. Officer Clay never hesitated when it came to keeping the residents of Union County safe. Whether it was being first on scene or choosing to enter a building to search for endangered residents or coming to work on a day off, he was willing without issues.  He was also willing to work a sixteen hour shift during Hurricane Irene swimming through hazardous conditions to rescue flooded Union County residents - also without issue. This is who the Union County Prosecutors Office and Union County Police Department don't want you to know. 

In July 2013 Officer Clay submitted a letter to his PBA delegate who in turn sent it to administration and Internal Affairs regarding SIU (Special Intelligence Unit) Officers Chris Debbie, Kevin Keating, and Richard Schubert. The letter addressed racial profiling, safety concerns and the SIU Officers operating with no regard for the general safety of other officers. It addressed how all three officers illegally stopped and searched motor vehicles (mostly on the New Jersey Parkway and Route 78) repeatedly. It also addressed how all three officers would frequently coerce suspects into giving them permission to search vehicles for fear of what they would do if they continued to refuse their requests. Internal Affairs requested an additional statement, but after receiving several calls from officers and supervisors within the department, Officer Clay told Internal Affairs that he would not give a further statement due to fear of retaliation. It was common knowledge within the department that the SIU Officers blurred legal lines on a daily basis. Clay stated that since administration and everyone in patrol were fully aware of what the SIU's did, then he would leave it up to the Department to do the right thing on behalf of Union County and its residents. On July 18th, 2013 Internal Affairs closed the investigation citing that Clay withdrew his initial letter and they would not look into the matter any further. 

Chris Debbie is politically connected to the Union County Freeholders, Union County Prosecutors Office, former County Manager George Devanney, Senator Raymond Lesniak, County Manager Alfred J. Faella, Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield, and other elected officials. He would frequently use his connections to harass county employees. 

These same connections:

1) Made sure Chris Debbie was protected during the drunken park shooting incident at Echo Lake Park in Mountainside on November 26th, 1991 and that his involvement was kept to a minimum considering his father was the Chief of Mountainside at the time (*Newark Star Ledger December 24th, 1991 / The Courier News December 31st, 1991). 

2) Helped cover up his investigation, or lack thereof, into former Freeholder Deborah Scanlon's step-son, Patrick Scanlon. 

3) Made sure Chris Debbie was never thoroughly questioned in regards to the sexual assault of Yuri Henao who was arrested with James Garner in April 2009. 

4) Helped Chris Debbie blackmail three Union County Police Captains so that he could slide into the vacant Chief position when he was the least qualified. 

5) Helped Chris Debbie influence Woodbridge Police Department and Middlesex County Prosecutors Office into losing evidence related to the two car accident DUI involving Union County Police Officer Mark Grzeda.  Grzeda totaled both his car and another vehicle while still in possession of his service weapon.  The other driver required hospital treatment. 

6) Helped Chris Debbie and Brian Evans to have control over the Union County Police Department's TriTech Cad system and POSS in which enabled them to manipulate information without drawing suspicion.  (eg. deleting a CAD entry by Scotch Plains PD regarding a DUI involving Brian Evans on the night of a PBA Christmas party). 

 

In September 2013, Chris Debbie and other SIU Officers requested to form a committee to vote Officer Clay out of the PBA for speaking against a fellow officer. Clay was forced to defend his actions to the PBA Union. Clay offered to leave the PBA if members voiced opposition to his actions.  No officers spoke against him except for those in the Special Investigations Unit. He remained a PBA member, but expressed concern for his job and the safety of his family.

In addition, a severe conflict of interest resulted from the personal relationship between Chief Debbie and AP Ann M Luvera from the Union County Prosecutors Office.  AP Luvera worked with Chief Debbie to file charges against officers whom Debbie found to be a threat, including Officer Clay. 

From the beginning of 2014 to the beginning of 2016 Chris Debbie made Officer Clay a target and charged him with false and baseless administrative charges. Clay retained counsel and requested hearings on every charge. No discovery items, except for the Department SOPs, were ever turned over until Clay's suspension in 2016. For more than a two year period,  the Department refused to allow Clay to defend himself against false charges violating his due process.

Clay was ostracized by fellow officers at the instruction of Chris Debbie. He was even referred to as a "mulignan" (aka eggplant or moolie) an ethnic slur for an African American, by officers who underestimated his understanding. White Officers would also use a hand gesture (swiping the face from top to bottom covering the face) to talk about minorities and refer to them as "savages." Clay even received a picture of a drowning slave in his work mailbox. There were several cameras in the area by the mailboxes. Clay was told, no video existed. Chief Debbie covered this up with the assistance of Dean Marcantonio and John G Esmerado, both of the Union County Prosecutors Office. They closed the investigation even though knowledge of an email from a White Supervisor within the Department existed regarding hatred towards Clay and references of "how dare a black officer" and references to the "Jefferson's theme song."

The harassment continued including letters and phone calls to Clay's private residence. When Clay reported it to Internal Affairs, the harassment stopped, but was never investigated. Clay enlisted the help of local journalist Sylvia Jauregui who was closely connected to the Union County Freeholders. She helped set up a meeting with Union County Freeholder Sergio Granados at her office for "Elizabeth Inside Out" on Morris Ave in Elizabeth. Upon arriving at the office Granados received a phone call. He took Ms. Jauregui into a separate room. He reprimanded her for asking him to intervene in anything involving Chief Debbie. He then required her to end the meeting and have Clay exit the building. Several weeks later all County funding to programs Ms. Jauregui ran were cut and sponsors pulled their funding for "Elizabeth Inside Out" as well. Sylvia Jauregui was threatened until she finally left Union County.

Clay was even pulled over at gun point in December 2016 by members of the Union County Police Department in Rahway Park. He was told that he “fit the description”. He was taken from his vehicle which was a rental car. Clay was dressed in business attire. He was searched by his fellow officers and they did not find any drugs or weapons on him. Clay refused to give the officers and supervisors permission to search the vehicle. However one of the supervisors received a phone call on his cell phone and then proceeded to search the vehicle without a search warrant. There was multiple officers and two supervisors on scene so no exigency exsisted. After searching the vehicle Clay was released and told he could leave. The Union County Police Department and Union County Prosecutors Office made sure Clay was unable to obtain any related reports until after the trial and made sure all in car videos were not preserved. 

Officer Clay filed a TORT claim against Union County Police Chief James Christopher Debbie and the Union County Police Department in 2015. Dean Marcantonio and John G Esmerado of the Union County Prosecutors Office conducted the investigation into the TORT Claim including references to the 2013 letter regarding the patrol practices of the SIU Officers and the cover up of a sex scandal involving then Union County Deputy County Manager William (Bill) Reyes who is a close friend of Debbie's. The Union County Prosecutors Office closed their investigation into the TORT Claim on March 4th 2016. Two weeks later Officer Clay was detained and arrested in Walmart.

Officer Clay maintains his innocence. He professes that he is a frugal shopper who took advantage of purchasing items that were labeled incorrectly. He would frequently look for online "glitches" and store errors, which is not illegal. It is unclear as to the Union County Police Department's full involvement prior to being detained while shopping but once in custody Union County Police Departments Internal Affairs were extremely quick to appear on scene. Clay maintained that he purchased items as is from the store and even checked the items at the price scanner in the store.

Rather than being allowed to clear his name, Clay's due process was again violated as court dates were postponed several times while the Union County Police Department and Union County Prosecutors Office conducted a "back in time" investigation picking and choosing what store purchases fit their narrative. In May 2016 Clay was charged by the Union County Prosecutors Office and suspended without pay.

The primary investigators also had a conflict of interest. The lead detective and Assistant Prosecutor John G Esmerado "investigated" and cleared Chris Debbie and the Union County Police Department from Clay's TORT claim. As well as Supervisors from the Union County Police Department who were named in Clay's TORT Claim. The conflict of interest became more evident considering that Officer Clay was assigned to the Union County Prosecutors Office Narcotics Strike Force and worked closely with most of the detectives who were assigned to investigate him.

During the course of the investigation both Union County Prosecutors Office and Union County Police Department found evidence that could exonerate Clay, but choose to ignore it and hid the evidence. They insisted Clay only used self-check out in order to elude store personnel, yet several videos showed he made purchases with live cashiers.  Still others showed at self-check out, Clay asked for assistance from store personnel. The Union County Prosecutors Office insisted Clay manufactured "barcodes" or labels to place on items he was purchasing. Video surveillance pulled only showed Officer Clay checking out. Limited surveillance footage was preserved of Officer Clay actually walking through the stores and shopping, but the footage that was preserved showed Officer Clay shopping just like other customers doing nothing illegal. The Union County Prosecutors Office attempted to withhold this footage from the jury during the trial. They insisted that Clay manufactured these "barcodes" or labels. Store personnel found several of these "barcodes" or labels on items similar to what Clay purchased in a store on a day that Clay was not present in any store shopping, these were never collected as evidence and no statements were taken from store personnel. At trial, prosecutors told the jury that Clay planted barcodes in the store or must have dropped them while previously shopping.  Prosecutors neglected to inform jurors that while Clay made several purchases in uniform, which is not illegal, he did go directly to a cashier at one store inquiring about an item and purchasing it. This fact was ignored and misrepresented to the jury to fit their theory of illegal activity where there was none.

Union County Prosecutor Detective Cassie Kim testified during the trial. She appeared to be extremely nervous and could not wait to run off the witness stand after being cross-examined. During her cross-examination she stated “I told the grand jury he always went there (self-check out) because the majority of the times he always did” in reference to whether or not Officer Clay used self-check out or live cashiers. She also testified that the Union County Prosecutors Office had no interest in securing certain statements or surveillance footage that could have possibly exonerated Officer Clay.

Clay was charged with buying items which he never purchased, with items that were not actually carried in store to be purchased, and instead of going to the store to identify items purchased (or even speak with a knowledgeable employee) Vincent Gagliardi and Cassie Kim of the Union County Prosecutors Office used Google and Ebay to search for and price items. Any items priced by Walmart's website were priced by third party sellers and not actually sold by Walmart. Clay confirmed on his own with several manufacturers and Walmart corporate whether certain items were actually carried by Walmart and it was shown that Clay was correct. Furthermore he confirmed actual prices on items in store and directly from the manufacturers. 

Prior to going to trial, Clay and his legal team filed numerous motions. They were due to appear in court for motions to recuse the Union County Prosecutors Office and dismiss the first indictment when the Union County Prosecutors Office dismissed the first indictment but returned back with a superseding indictment. They received Clay's brief and after seeing everything decided clean up their case. So in 2018 they re-indicted Clay on a superseding indictment with no new evidence but made the charges broader and removed Prosecutor John G Esmerado, Dean Marcantonio, and Vincent Gagliardi. The Union County Prosecutors Office assigned Derek T Nececkas to Clay's case and coincidentally he received a nice $59,000 raise (*NJ.com February 12th, 2020).

Judge John M Deitch, Judge Robert Kirsch, the Union County Prosecutors Office, Derek T Nececkas, Robert Rosenthal, Chris Debbie, and the Union County Police Department did everything in their power to block and hide evidence being submitted, hide emails showing the vindictiveness and ruthlessness, hide any racial bias, and make sure the jury was not fully informed. The County of Union worked together to cover up any wrong doing and protect each other at all cost. Even during his trial Judge Robert Kirsch, the Union County Prosecutors Office, Derek T Nececkas, and Robert Rosenthal allowed Chris Debbie to send Kevin Keating and Richard Schubert to court to intimidate Clay. Kevin Keating and Richard Schubert were only present on the day which Clay testified and they intentionally sat right behind Clay's family. While he testified they looked his family up and down and made it known to Clay that they were taking account of who they were.

Prosecutors also knowingly presented false evidence and multiple contradictory statements. They avoided having their own "expert" identify those particular items because the expert would have shown that the evidence did not match up. The prosecutors also knowingly presented a video into evidence that had clearly been edited and tampered with so that it did not show the entire recorded interaction, but a minuscule glimpse of what they wanted to fit their narrative. While most of the videos submitted for evidence were a minute or longer this particular video was edited to only seconds. This was blatantly evident yet Judge Kirsch allowed this to be admissible during the trial. 

Clay testified at his trial and explained that he did not deny making any of the purchases but that he did so legally the same as other shoppers. He even explained and pointed out the evidence that was falsified by the Union County Prosecutors Office. He further explained he never identified himself as a police officer but was asked what he did for a living and he then answered the question honestly. An answer which the Union County Prosecutors Office twisted to fit their own narrative.

Officer Blake Clay was a great police officer and selflessly gave back to his community. Besides being dedicated to his profession, Clay is an amazing family man. He's always there for both friends and family no matter what. While his case seems to be a simple "theft" case it's much more than that. 

It was recently discovered that while the Union County Prosecutors Office and Union County Police Department did everything to bury a young bright black officer, they simultaneously helped cover up the wrong doings of a white police chief. Westfield Police Chief David Wayman, Detective Lt Leonard Lugo, and several others were all involved in and helped cover up stealing evidence from the police evidence room. All of this was caught on camera (The Fact of The Matter Blog / 07090.blogspot.com February 24th 2020 and March 6th, 2020). This was known to the Union County Prosecutors Office and rather than do their job and prosecute the above accused officers, they helped the white officers retire with nice pensions and never charged anyone involved nor made it public to the media. This is only one of many cover ups of white politically connected individuals in Union County. Yet the Union County Prosecutors Office continues to fill the jails with Black and Brown residents without a care for how it gets done. 

To all who will listen, I implore you to hold Union County accountable for their corruption. The Union County Prosecutors Office knowingly lied and falsified evidence with the purpose of silencing and getting rid of Officer Clay. Do not turn a blind eye. Help assist in getting this petition before Governor Murphy for his consideration so that he can step in and give Officer Blake Clay justice, or at the very least allow him to be home while he awaits his appeal.