NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A police sergeant in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office was charged Thursday with stealing approximately $10,000 worth of cameras and other equipment from an Associated Press photojournalist who was injured covering tense protests outside a Newark immigration detention center.
Darryl Brown, 44, was arrested after investigators traced the missing gear to his home using a geo-tracking device that photojournalist Angelina Katsanis had placed inside her equipment bag, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said at a news conference.
Katsanis was on assignment for The Associated Press at Delaney Hall on May 30 when she was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a confrontation between police and demonstrators. As she limped to a medical tent for treatment, she left behind a gear bag that was marked with her name and contact information. When she was eventually allowed to return to the area — now in a wheelchair — the bag was gone, according to the attorney general’s office.
The bag contained camera bodies, lenses, memory cards and other equipment valued at roughly $10,000. Katsanis had activated a geo-tracking feature on a device stored in the bag, which allowed investigators to locate the items, Platkin said.
A search of Brown’s home on Wednesday recovered the stolen equipment, authorities said. Brown was placed under arrest and processed at the Essex County Correctional Facility. He has been suspended without pay from his position with the Prosecutor’s Office, according to officials.
Brown is charged with theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree crime punishable by up to five years in prison. He made his first court appearance Thursday and was released pending trial. A court date has not yet been scheduled.
The charges come amid ongoing unrest at Delaney Hall, a privately run immigration detention facility in Newark where detainees have been on hunger strike since late May. Protests outside the facility have drawn hundreds of demonstrators and resulted in multiple arrests. In the days before the theft, police arrested three journalists at the scene and temporarily restricted press access to the area.
“Journalists must be able to do their jobs without fear of having their equipment stolen, especially while they are putting themselves in harm’s way to document what is happening in our communities,” Platkin said. “We will hold anyone who interferes with that work accountable.”
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and would not comment further on the pending case. Brown’s attorney did not return a request for comment.
The Associated Press said it was grateful for the swift recovery of Katsanis’s equipment and the charging of a suspect. “We expect that those entrusted with protecting the public will be held to the highest standards of conduct,” said Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.
Katsanis, who has been covering the Delaney Hall protests since they began, said she was shocked that a law enforcement officer was involved. “I honestly just wanted my gear back to keep working,” she said. “But the fact that a police sergeant had it — that’s a completely different level of betrayal.”