The Palisades Park Borough Council recently decided to remove a suspended police officer from the borough’s payroll.

According to Palisades Park law enforcement, the suspect committed check fraud in 2015. He is accused of altering a check made out to the borough and then putting the funds in his personal bank account.

The amount of the theft reportedly totaled $1,000.

The suspect was eventually arrested and charged with theft. He appeared in Bergen County Superior Court in August 2015 and pleaded not guilty to the theft charges.

Last summer, shortly after the charges were filed, the Palisades Park Police Department suspended the suspect without pay. This meant that he no longer received a biweekly check of $4,833.80.

In December 2015, the suspect was returned to the payroll due to a technicality: the Palisades Park Borough Council never actually voted on the earlier decision to suspend the suspect’s pay. In addition to temporarily being allowed to receive his biweekly checks, the suspect was also granted nearly $40K in back pay.

Now the Palisades Park Council has taken swift and decisive action to ensure that the suspect does not receive municipal funds while he is suspended. The borough council voted to remove the suspect from the payroll so long as the criminal charges are pending and his suspension from the Palisades Park police force remains intact.

For further information about this case, access the NJ.com article, “Palisades Park Suspends Pay for Cop Charged with Theft—Again.”