NJ Cop Says Sex on Duty Shouldn't Have Led to Firing

"I honestly don't think so." That's the no-so-honest answer a former New Jersey police officer gave to Union County prosecutors who asked him if he had sex in his police car while on the job. Fernando Sanchez ultimately reversed that line and admitted to having sex with more than one woman during work hours, sometimes in his car. MyCentralJersey reports Sanchez lost his job and was no longer a member of the Plainfield force—where he had served since 1999—as of Sept. 23, 2014. Now, he wants his job back. In fact, that request is why the details of his case are now accessible to the media, MyCentralJersey explains: Police internal affairs investigations are not made public, but cases before the state Civil Service Commission are.

The commission in October ruled in support of the city; Sanchez is appealing, per his former attorney. He thinks he should have been handed a suspension, his reasoning being that when investigators learned of his dalliances, he put a stop to those rendez-vous. What the city had to say: "An officer who engages in such conduct clearly cannot be relied upon to exercise the necessary tact, restraint, and good judgment in his relationships with the public." How Judge Leslie Z. Celentano framed his arguments: "border[ing] on ludicrous." (More sex stories.)