The first cop sentenced to prison in the ongoing federal probe into the Paterson Police Department is a 26-year-old thug from the streets who took pride in never forgetting where he came from.
“I was afraid that people would say that I was a success, that I forgot where I came from,” Roger McAusland said during his sentencing. “So I kept my friends.”
One of those friends made him a drug proposition, according to the Paterson Press.
“I just saw it as a shortcut,” he said. “It started off as something really small and it snowballed into something else.”
The New Jersey cop would steal cocaine, crack and marijuana from crime scenes and later resell the drugs.
While the feds were investigating McAusland for his drug crimes, they searched through his cell phone and came across the above video, so he was charged with assault in addition to the drug crimes.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Walls sentenced McAusland to 66 months in prison for his crimes. He will begin his sentence on May 20.
He must also pay $32,892 in restitution to the hospital victim, who needed facial surgery to repair a broken eye socket, as well as forfeit the $13,650 he made by selling the stolen drugs.
“This was my first mistake and the worst mistake I ever made,” McAusland told the judge, likely referring to the fact that he had his his partner record the act and not necessarily the act itself.
McAusland is one of six Paterson cops who have been arrested in the two-year federal investigation into the New Jersey police department. The cops are accused of conducting illegal traffic stops to steal money from motorists.
Roger Then, the cop who recorded his partner slap the suicidal patient, is one of these cops.
The victim in the above video, Andrew Casciano, has filed a notice of intent to file a $4 million lawsuit against the city.