Ex-South Jersey police chief scheduled to report to prison for lying to FBI in hate-crime assault case
A federal jury in October 2019 convicted Frank Nucera Jr. of lying when he told the FBI he did not strike a handcuffed Black teenage suspect at a Bordentown hotel in 2016.
After two mistrials, legal wrangling, and delays, former Bordentown Township Police Chief Frank Nucera Jr. is heading to prison for a 28-month sentence for lying to the FBI about striking a Black teenager during an arrest in 2016.
Nucera, 65, must report by Saturday to the Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Ky., where he was assigned by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He was allowed to self-report to the low-level security facility. It was unclear how or when Nucera would make the trip.
“It’s an unpleasant necessity that he has to fulfill,” said his attorney, Rocco Cipparone. “He has to respect the sentence.”
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler sentenced Nucera almost a year ago for lying to the FBI in a hate-crime assault case that made international headlines. The judge said he wanted to send a strong message to police officers and the public that such misconduct would not be tolerated.
Nucera was charged with hitting Timothy Stroye, a handcuffed Black suspect, during a September 2016 arrest at a Ramada hotel. Fellow officers say Stroye, then 18, was in custody and not resisting when Nucera slammed the teen’s head into a metal doorjamb during a scuffle with police.
In a November 2017 interview with The Inquirer, Stroye described his encounter with Nucera and other officers at the hotel, saying, “I thought they were going to shoot me.” Stroye died in January 2020 from a suspected drug overdose.
Nucera resigned from dual positions as chief and township administrator in 2017 after learning the FBI was investigating. He could forfeit his $105,000 annual pension.
Kugler twice declared a mistrial in the case against Nucera after jurors deadlocked on the two most serious civil rights charges, most recently in December. He was convicted in 2019 on the charge of lying to the FBI and remained free pending the outcome of the other charges.
The second trial was delayed partly by the pandemic and Nucera’s health ailments, including a bout with COVID-19. Prosecutors announced in January 2022 that they would not seek to try him a third time on the remaining charges. Nucera has appealed his lying conviction, which could take a year for a ruling.
» READ MORE: Jury finds former N.J. police chief guilty of lying to FBI
When Nucera was accused of the hate-crime assault in 2017, the charges stunned the predominantly white community of about 11,000 just south of Trenton. Authorities said the longtime chief had a history of spewing racial hatred, including speaking about joining a firing squad to mow down Black people, comparing them to ISIS, and talking of sending police dogs to intimidate Black spectators at high school basketball games.
Nucera was supposed to report to prison Jan. 19, but Kugler granted a delay due to Nucera’s health problems. The judge said he would not be amenable to any further postponements. Defendants typically are given 30 days to surrender after sentencing.
Stroye’s mother, Falicia, said she has worked to forgive Nucera. But she doesn’t believe justice was served in the case.
”He did something to my child,” Stroye, 46, of Morrisville, said Friday. “It’s not fair. I don’t think that it was justice at all.“
Experts say the case was unique because Nucera was implicated by his rank-and-file officers who broke the “blue wall of silence.” Some secretly recorded Nucera and testified against him. Cipparone has said the racist statements Nucera made were “a snapshot in time” and out of character.
» READ MORE: After another mistrial for a former South Jersey police chief, the mother of his teen victim seeks justice
With credit for good behavior, the 34-year law enforcement veteran could be released after serving about 24 months. The prison, located in eastern Kentucky, houses about 1,200 male prisoners and includes an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp.
According to the prison handbook, Nucera will be assigned to a housing unit and given government-issued clothing. There are 6 a.m. wake-up calls, and inmates are responsible for making their beds, sweeping and mopping their cells.
» READ MORE: Ex-Bordentown Township police chief gets 28 months in prison for lying to the FBI in a hate-crime case
The Bordentown police department was thrust in the spotlight again this week when Nucera’s successor Brian Pesce was placed on restricted duty after being arrested for drunken driving. He was promoted to acting chief when Nucera was charged with hate crimes.