ISLAND HEIGHTS – A police officer who was ordered to turn over all his weapons due to a temporary restraining order lied and kept several of them, police said, until they were stolen from his unlocked car.
Matthew Curtis, 47, of Little Egg Harbor Township, works as a detective in Island Heights. He was charged with providing a False Report to Law Enforcement Authorities, Contempt of a Judicial or Protective Order, and being a Certain Person prohibited from Possessing a Weapon.
Investigators said that Curtis was ordered to surrender any guns he owned due to a temporary restraining order issued against him on May 11, 2022. He turned over a number of weapons but kept some.
Two days later, he wrote a letter to police that he had sold three handguns that were registered to him. Police said a weapons trace conducted by the United States Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicated, however, that Curtis remained the registered owner of those weapons.
On December 11, 2022, Curtis filed a report with the Little Egg Harbor Police Department that three handguns were stolen from his unlocked personal vehicle in front of his home. Police said one of the guns he reported stolen was one of the weapons he had already claimed he sold. That gun was recovered from a suspect accused of a motor vehicle theft and eluding in Essex County.
Curtis was also suspended with pay from his position with the Island Heights Police Department.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer acknowledged the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Domestic Violence/Weapons Squad, Little Egg Harbor Police Department, and United States Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, for their collaborative efforts in connection with this investigation.
Charges are merely accusations until proven in a court of law.
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