By Penny Ray
TRENTON - A Mercer County
Sheriff’s Officer who was suspended without pay last year for allegedly pepper
spraying a woman in the face while she was handcuffed has been indicted in
connection with the case.
Sergeant Sean Lavin, 43, of
Hamilton, was indicted May 15 on three counts of official misconduct and one
count of tampering with public records.
Earlier this year, The
Trentonian broke the story that Lavin pepper sprayed a woman in the face while
she was handcuffed behind her back, and then falsified documents related to the
incident.
The incident occurred around
8:30 p.m. on Dec. 6, after several Mercer County sheriff’s officers were
dispatched to the Sun National Bank Center to assist arena staff with a group
of people who were acting confrontational while entering the Life in Color
paint party.
At some point during the
incident, prosecutors say, the woman and several others were detained.
Prosecutors are unsure which officer detained who, but while the woman was
handcuffed, Lavin allegedly pepper sprayed her in the face. The sheriff’s
office then received information about the incident, which prompted an
investigation by Internal Affairs.
Then, on Dec. 10, Lavin
allegedly filed a false police report and attempted to convince subordinate
officers to file false police reports regarding arrests made at that event as
well. Two days later, Lavin was charged with official misconduct.
Lavin, who is a Hamilton
resident employed by the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office since July 2000,
remains suspended without pay. There is no scheduled court date at this time.
If convicted, Lavin faces a
penalty of five to ten years in prison for the second-degree crimes of official
misconduct. And he faces a penalty of three to five years in prison for the
third-degree crime of tampering with public records.
