Sea Bright, NJ, Police Officer Charged With Lashing Out After Getting Dumped

⚫ A Sea Bright cop is charged with physically threatening his ex after she broke up with him

⚫ The officer allegedly slashed her tires, keyed her car, and ripped out house security cameras

⚫ He is accused of searching law-enforcement databases more than 30 times looking for info on his ex

SEA BRIGHT — A borough police officer has been arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes recently committed against an ex-girlfriend, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

The officer, Erich A. Bennett, 46, was briefly dating a woman when she decided to end the relationship in late November, according to an investigation by the MCPO Professional Responsibility and Bias Crime Bureau, along with other agencies.

Then, on Monday, Dec. 5, Bennett showed up unannounced at the woman’s house and threatened to physically harm her, prompting her to block her from contacting her electronically, and to install security cameras outside her home.

On Sunday, Jan.8, the victim said she began receiving harassing and threatening messages via social media from an online account, which the investigation connected to Bennett.

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The following weekend on Saturday, Jan. 14, as she was leaving her home, the woman noticed that all four tires on her vehicle had been slashed. Her vehicle had also been keyed, a flagpole had been torn off the front of her house, and the Ring doorbell camera, along with two other security cameras had been removed from her home.

The investigation placed Bennett in the area of the woman’s home at the suspected time of the vandalism.

From October through January, Bennett had also accessed law-enforcement databases on more than 30 occasions for non-law-enforcement purposes, investigators said. He specifically accessed the personal identifying information of the victim and multiple individuals with whom she was associated.

Bennett was arrested on Jan. 25 and is currently lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, pending a detention hearing, scheduled for Monday, Feb. 6.

He was charged with a second-degree pattern of official misconduct, two counts of second-degree official misconduct, third-degree terroristic threats, fourth-degree cyber harassment, fourth-degree hindering apprehension, fourth-degree identity theft, and fourth-degree stalking.

Bennett has also been suspended without pay.