Charge cop plotted insurance scam
Saturday, November 04, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City police officer has been suspended after he was arrested in Eatontown Wednesday night and then arrested again in Jersey City when stolen property was found while his locker was being cleaned out Thursday, officials said.

Officer Dean Hashmi, 37, of Ocean Grove, was charged with filing a false police report about his car being stolen - cops say he intended to make a claim with his insurance company - and he will also be charged with attempted theft by deception, said Eatontown Police Chief George Jackson.

Hashmi was suspended without pay shortly after the department learned of the arrest Wednesday night, Jersey City Deputy Police Chief Peter Nalbach said.

Hashmi, who was the late Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's driver, was arrested again when a stolen police radio was found in his locker, Nalbach said yesterday.

"He was present and he told us he bought it for $300 from a civilian employee who works in radio repair," Nalbach said. "It disappeared from our inventory.

Hashmi was released on his own recognizance on the Eatontown charge and appeared yesterday in Central Judicial Processing in Jersey City for the attempted theft charge and posted 10 percent of his $25,000 bail. That will free him for his wedding, planned for today .

Hashmi's lawyer, Daniel Welsh, defended his client.

"As a man that has dedicated his life to serving the justice system, he hopes that that system doesn't abandon him now," he said yesterday.

Jersey City Department of Public Works radio repairman Lawrence Homer, 42, of Longfellow Street in Jersey City, was charged with theft regarding the radio, said Police Director Sam Jefferson.

Hashmi was suspended from Sept. 22, 2004 to June 20, 2005 following a domestic violence incident that did not result in criminal charges, Nalbach said.