>THE RECORD, Friday, February 15, 2008
BY KIBRET MARKOS
A Ridgewood police lieutenant was admitted into a one-year probation program Thursday, the result of allegations that he groped a woman at a party last year.
Richard Whitehead, will have no criminal record if he completes the Pretrial Intervention program without any violation of the terms, which include resignation from the Police Department and not having contact with the woman.
Whitehead can request termination of the program after six months. His lawyer, Merick Limsky, said at a hearing Thursday in state Superior Court that he will make such a request, arguing that Whitehead has a long record of public service.
“I think his unblemished career of 25 years speaks for itself,” Limsky said.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello said: “This disposition was done with the consent of the victim and was also done at her request.”
Whitehead was accused of touching a police dispatcher at a colleague’s retirement party in June 2007 at the Elks in Ridgewood. The woman, whose name is being withheld by The Record, told detectives that Whitehead slid his hand under her skirt and groped her as she walked past him.
After speaking to detectives, the woman agreed to call Whitehead and try to get him to talk about the incident while investigators listened in.
Whitehead said he was drinking at the party and did not recall touching the woman. He also apologized repeatedly and said he felt bad for “what happened.”
Whitehead had been with the Ridgewood Police Department since 1981 and was a lieutenant for seven years. He has been on vacation since Jan. 23, with a retirement date of March 1. His base salary is $123,000, records show.