Bergen County Sheriff sued over alleged mistreatment of disabled U.S. Air Force veteran

The Bergen County sheriff and two members of his command staff allegedly tried to fire an officer after a mental health crisis two years ago and have slow-walked his return after New Jersey’s civil service agency demanded the officer’s reinstatement, according to a new lawsuit.

Joseph Campolattaro, a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran and a nine-year sheriff’s officer, has accused Sheriff Anthony Cureton, Chief Carmelo Giustra, and Capt. Tasharah Windley of a host of retaliatory and discriminatory practices, including fostering a hostile work environment, hounding him on the job, weaponizing the state’s police licensing process against him, and delaying his return to full-time, unrestricted duty, among other things.

“The sheriff’s office has terrorized Joe in his workplace by severely marginalizing and isolating him,” Campolattaro’s attorney, Eric Kleiner, told The Jersey Vindicator. “At least one superior, Capt. Windley, believes she actually owns him like a piece of property.”

“If that’s not enough, he was supposed to be returned to full-time, armed duty many months ago — and to date, that has not occurred,” he continued. “We will seek justice in the courts.”

In the 76-page lawsuit, which was filed in Bergen County Superior Court, Campolattaro claims that Windley, a Black woman, attacked “Caucasian armed forces veterans who are handicapped as a means to reach her goals,” which allegedly included racing up the department ranks.

“Windley … is a high-level supervisor [who], along with the other defendants, engineered a set of processes designed to cause plaintiff to be terminated, and after plaintiff’s reinstatement has sought to derail his return,” Kleiner wrote in the Dec. 3 lawsuit.

“Windley has spent much of her career surveilling and spying on plaintiff at the courthouse to the point that she amuses herself or gets a rise out of trying to derail plaintiff’s emotional and mental health, knowing that plaintiff is offended by her history of antagonizing and harassing [him] for many years by oversurveilling him,” the lawsuit reads.

Both Giustra and Cureton, ranking members of the agency and Windley’s bosses, had a responsibility to quickly reinstate Campolattaro after the state Civil Service Commission ruled he could return to work in February 2025, according to the lawsuit.

They allegedly failed to do so, and Giustra “directly acted to derail plaintiff’s reinstatement to full-time armed status,” the lawsuit reads.

The trio’s actions violated the state’s antidiscrimination law and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, Kleiner wrote in the lawsuit.

As a disabled veteran with physical and mental ailments that require “minimal accommodations,” Campolattaro is part of a protected class under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

He is seeking punitive damages, including lost wages, pay, overtime, and benefits, as well as attorney fees.

In a Friday email, Cureton said he had not seen the lawsuit but felt it was important to point out that the sheriff’s office employs many veterans, some of whom are disabled, and it “appreciates and values their service to our country.”

He also alleged that Campolattaro was fired last year after two off-duty, alcohol-related incidents.

The Civil Service Commission affirmed the charges against Campolattaro but changed the penalty from termination to a six-month suspension, Cureton added.

“There has been no ‘conspiracy’ to remove Sheriff’s Officer Campolattaro – merely the application of progressive discipline,” Cureton said.

Giustra and Windley did not respond to several inquiries from The Jersey Vindicator seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Campolattaro’s troubles with Windley began about four years after his 2016 hiring when Windley allegedly told him he looked like someone who wanted to “bomb synagogues,” according to the lawsuit.

The alleged January 2020 remark, which came amid several local attacks at houses of worship, was “deeply hurtful” to the Air Force vet, according to the lawsuit.

Six months later, the captain allegedly interfered with Campolattaro’s ability to earn overtime. In 2022, she allegedly halted his transfer to the detective bureau, according to the lawsuit.

“Windley treat[ed] plaintiff like he was a pet that she owned for her own amusement,” the lawsuit reads. “[She] stopped that assignment, stating plaintiff would be where he needs to be — ‘under her control,’ or words to that effect.”

Campolattaro tried several times to switch bosses but was ignored, according to the lawsuit.

The captain allegedly spied on him and falsely accused him of being on his cellphone while working in the county courthouse where he was stationed, according to the suit.

Windley allegedly entertained herself by targeting Campolattaro and “playing off her reverse-race tendencies and ingrained hatred of U.S. armed forces veterans that are Caucasian and are damaged or handicapped,” according to the lawsuit, which also alleges that she was the “prime mover” in Campolattaro’s April 2023 mental health crisis.

Campolattaro allegedly tried to report her behavior to his bosses. But nothing happened.

“Windley is immune from being punished,” the suit reads. “She is untouchable.”

After Campolattaro’s breakdown, the sheriff’s office canned him in what the lawsuit describes as an “excessive form of punishment.”

The Civil Service Commission reversed the decision and instead handed Campolattaro a six-month suspension. He returned to duty on Feb. 26 this year.

A month later, Campolattaro passed a fitness-for-duty exam. But he alleges that the three defendants in the lawsuit have continued to harass him.

“Defendants are surveilling plaintiff constantly by video to see if he can be targeted for any infraction, whether real or imagined,” according to the lawsuit.

The trio has also deliberately ignored Campolattaro’s requests for more training as he waits for the state to reactivate his police license, which every officer must have, according to state law.

This has left him behind schedule, according to the lawsuit.

Campolattaro also accused the defendants in the lawsuit of slow-walking his police license reactivation by purposely giving him the wrong forms to fill out and allegedly not doing the legwork they themselves needed to do to get him back on the job, according to the lawsuit.

“These actions appear designed to use the [state Police Training Commission] as an instrument to further defendants’ efforts to block plaintiff’s reinstatement,” the lawsuit reads. “There is no indication that the defendants will ever allow the plaintiff to be restored to active duty absent a lawsuit and lawful pressure to be exerted.”

In his Friday email to The Jersey Vindicator, Cureton said the sheriff’s office “immediately complied” with the Civil Service order to reinstate Campolattaro. But Cureton said Campolattaro is barred from doing police work because the training commission hasn’t restored his license.

Campolattaro has been relegated to the Civil Process Unit, which processes paperwork for foreclosures, writs of possession, wage garnishment, and service of court papers.

“This civilian role has been performed in the past by injured sheriffs and corrections officers in our agency,” Cureton wrote in his email to The Jersey Vindicator. “We have attempted to find useful non-law enforcement work for Campolattaro while the [commission] decides whether to reinstate his license. However, the opportunities are limited in a law enforcement agency.”

The agency still hasn’t paid Campolattaro the back pay, benefits, and other compensation owed to him following his reinstatement.

According to the lawsuit, Campolattaro has allegedly suffered “great pain, embarrassment, emotional distress and anguish” that have led to weight gain, heart palpitations, anxiety, stomachaches, depression, and other ailments.

Now, according to the lawsuit, he fears he’ll be “subjected to false allegations as a means of terminating him … when the defendants know he is fit for all duty, armed or unarmed.”

“The motive to discriminate is a means to an end,” the lawsuit reads. “This harm inflicted by the defendants was to force [Campolattaro] to give up his employment.”