SCOTT A. COFFINA

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR COUNTY OF BURLINGTON
PO BOX 6000
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW JERSEY 08060 PHONE (609) 265-5035
www.burlpros.org

PHILIP ARONOW
FIRST ASSISTANT PROSECUTOR

BURLINGTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR

DARREN ANDERSON
CHIEF OF INVESTIGATIONS

January 13, 2021

Michael Wilusz
Via email only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx

Re:	Response to OPRA Request (C-2021-0001)

Dear Mr. Wilusz:

	I am in receipt of your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for documents, dated January 3, 2020 and received January 4, 2020. You requested the following with regard to Steve Holzinger:

“Copies of any police CAD report(s) with narrative(s), preliminary law enforcement incident report(s), arrest report(s), criminal charge complaint(s), affidavit(s) of probable cause, CDR-1 or CDR-2 and indictments.”

	A search for records has been completed and attached is Complaint-Summons #313-S-2020-701. Please be advised that this matter is currently an active criminal case. Therefore, to the extent any other documents you may be seeking exist within this Office’s investigatory file, such records are exempt from disclosure as criminal investigatory records (CIR), pursuant to OPRA. Under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1, a prosecutor’s criminal investigatory file, whether open or closed, is not a public record and is exempt from disclosure. See North Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Township of Lyndhurst, 229 N.J. 541, 556 (2017), West Solloway v. Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, GRC Complaint No. 2011-39 (January 2013), Kovalcik v. Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, 206 N.J. 581, 591 (2011), Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dept., 381 N.J. Super. 30, (App. Div. 2005).  Further, the Government Records Council (GRC) held in Janeczko v. Division of Criminal Justice, GRC Complaint Nos. 2002-79 and 2002-80, that the exemption for criminal investigatory records applies to all investigations, “resolved and unresolved” and “without reference to the status of the investigation.”  Janeczko further held that under OPRA, “criminal investigatory records include records involving all manner of crimes, resolved or unresolved, and includes information that is part and parcel of an investigation, confirmed and unconfirmed”. See also Johnson/Press of Atlantic City v. Division of State Police, GRC Complaint No. 2004-46, among others. Therefore, your request for these documents must unfortunately be denied.
 
	The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office also reserves the right to raise any other grounds for denial not raised in this response.  The failure of the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office to assert an exception or privilege does not act as a waiver of any grounds for denial. 

Per  N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6 Proceeding to challenge denial of access to record, you are advised that you have the right to challenge this decision by filing an action in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Burlington County or by filing a complaint with the Government Records Council.  More information about the Government Records Council can be found at www.state.nj.us/grc

Thank you very much and please do not hesitate to contact me if there should be any questions.
Sincerely yours, SCOTT A. COFFINA
BURLINGTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Cc: File C-2021-001

By:	/s/Michael Sullivan	 Michael J. Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Records Custodian