A State Police trooper who previously accused superior officers of sexual wrongdoing has pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense for attacking a municipal police officer and was subsequently fired from the force. TRENTON — A State Police trooper who previously accused superior officers of sexual wrongdoing has pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense for attacking a municipal police officer and was subsequently fired from the force, The Star-Ledger has learned.
Trooper Alexis Hayes admitted June 18 to resisting arrest, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Hayes was charged in 2010 for getting into a fight with Berlin Borough police after they responded to a domestic disturbance at her home.
As part of the plea agreement, Hayes, 32, agreed to forfeit her ability to hold any position as a law enforcement officer in New Jersey, Laughlin said. A spokesman for the State Police, Lt. Stephen Jones, said Hayes was fired June 22 because of the criminal charge.
An attorney for Hayes, William Buckman, declined to comment.
Two years ago, two Berlin officers were dispatched to Hayes’ house at about 2 a.m. after a neighbor reported a domestic incident, the prosecutor’s office said. The officers heard an argument and entered the home. When no one opened a locked bedroom door, officers kicked it down.
Inside the bedroom was Hayes, her toddler child and the man with whom she was arguing, the office said. When the officers tried to take Hayes into custody, a fight started, the office said.
Hayes was accused of "punching and kicking" Sgt. John Gregory while he was attempting to arrest her, according to a criminal complaint filed by Berlin police. She was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and a disorderly persons offense.
Hayes made headlines in 2009 when she accused State Police Sgt. Christine Shallcross of sexual harassment while at the academy four years earlier. In the federal lawsuit, Hayes also accused Lt. Thomas King of assaulting and impregnating her during an assignment in Pittsburgh in 2009.
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The suit’s claims against Shallcross were dismissed in 2010 after a judge said Hayes had exceeded the statute of limitations. That same year, Pennsylvania law enforcement authorities declined to pursue charges against King, though they offered no reason for the decision.
Hayes’ federal civil claims against King are still pending, as well as a state whistle-blower case in which she claims she was retaliated against by the State Police, specifically by being suspended without pay in 2010, after reporting her allegations against King.
In 2010, an administrative law judge dismissed three of five internal disciplinary charges against Shallcross, a former instructor at the State Police academy. The judge found no evidence of charges that she had asked to see recruits’ underwear, verbally disparaged Hayes or kissed her.
The judge also noted that Hayes’ testimony was inconsistent and unreliable.
The judge upheld a charge that Shallcross drew on recruits’ faces with a marker, which resulted in a 45-day unpaid suspension, as well as driving a State Police vehicle after drinking at a bar. The judge recommended Shallcross serve a 30-day unpaid suspension for that offense.
But five months later, State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes overturned the ruling and suspended Shallcross 120 days without pay for showing a pattern of misconduct.
Shallcross is now back on duty and is pursuing her own lawsuit against the division, saying she was improperly targeted by internal investigators because she is a lesbian. Her attorney, George Daggett, said he was pleased to hear the State Police had fired Hayes. "This is one move I agree with the State Police on," Daggett said.
• N.J. State Police Trooper who filed sex assault suit faces charges of attacking officer
• N.J. State trooper accuses superior officer of sexually assaulting, impregnating her