PLAINFIELD, N.J.— A police officer contends that the city should not have fired him last year after he admitted to having sex with multiple women while on duty, including inside his police car.
Former Police Officer Fernando Sanchez admitted to having sex with the same woman that another cop — former Sgt. Samuel Woody — was found guilty of coercing into stripping for him as he played with himself in a public parking lot while in uniform. Woody was convicted in December 2013 and sentenced last year to six years in prison.
Sanchez’s own illicit on-duty trysts were discovered while the Union County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the Woody case.
Sanchez lied to prosecutors by saying, “I honestly don’t think so” when he was asked whether he had had sex with the woman in his patrol car, officials said.
Months later, as the city’s Police Division pursued its own internal affairs investigation, Sanchez changed his story. Officials also noted he “frequently” met with other “paramours” to have sex while on duty.
Sanchez did not testify in Woody’s trial and never was charged with any crime. But police brass filed 12 departmental and administrative charges, which an employment hearing officer upheld in June 2014. His last day was Sept. 22, 2014.
staff