Crime & Safety

Monmouth County Corrections Officer Admits Forging Prescription For Drugs

Six-year veteran of the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office pleads guilty, prosecutor says.

A Monmouth County corrections officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to altering a prescription to get pain medication and will immediately resign from his position within the county Sheriff's Office, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Justin B. Diomede, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of third degree attempt to obtain a controlled dangerous substance. He was also charged with one count of forgery, a third degree crime. 

The forgery charge will be dismissed at sentencing, as part of his plea agreement. As part of the plea, Diomede must resign his postion, according to a release from the Prosecutor's Office.

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Diomede, a six-year veteran with the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, was suspended without pay from his $64,286-a-year job in November 2012.

“Mr. Diomede’s actions are inexcusable. This is not what the community expects from a member of the law enforcement community, and it will not be allowed,” Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in the release.

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The Professional Responsibility Unit of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office began a joint investigation with the Holmdel Police Department on November 15, 2012, after learning Diomede had presented an altered prescription to Drug Smart Pharmacy in Keansburg after consulting a doctor in Holmdel for a medical condition, the release said.

During the examination, Diomede made an unrelated complaint of pain in his neck radiating down to his lower back and into his legs. The doctor sent Diomede for testing and issued him a written prescription for 40, 30mg pills of Roxycodone, the release said.

Prior to giving the prescription to the pharmacy, Diomede changed the quantity of pills to 140 and gave it to a pharmacist to the the larger number of pills, the release says.

 “We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior outside of our agency or from within, which is why Justin Diomede was suspended without pay immediately after he was arrested,” Sheriff Shaun Golden said in the release. “It’s the agency’s hope that Mr. Diomede or any individual with this type of problem would seek the proper treatment.”

Diomede is scheduled for sentencing on Friday, Aug. 29, when the state will also seek a probationary sentence subject to certain conditions, the release said.


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