New Jersey police chief charged with kidnapping, domestic assault
- - New Jersey police chief charged with kidnapping, domestic assault
Philip DeVencentis and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY NETWORK December 22, 2025 at 5:18 AM
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TOTOWA, NJ — A New Jersey police chief has been arrested and is now being held on felony charges stemming from a domestic violence incident in Massachusetts, officials and prosecutors said on Dec. 21.
Carmen Veneziano, who was the chief of the Totowa Police Department in northern New Jersey, was arrested on charges tied to an incident that occurred in Boston in September, Totowa Mayor John Coiro announced on Dec. 21. The Boston Police Department confirmed it was a domestic violence incident.
Veneziano was indicted on Dec. 18 on one count of kidnapping and three counts of domestic assault and battery, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts told USA TODAY. Prosecutors allege Veneziano "confined and assaulted a woman" in the early hours of Sept. 14 in a hotel room in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.
The police chief was arrested without incident on Dec. 19 by officers assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey. Prosecutors said Veneziano waived extradition proceedings and will be transported in custody.
Veneziano is expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Dec. 22. Further details will be disclosed at the arraignment, according to prosecutors.
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'We were quite surprised'
Following the arrest and extradition hearing on Dec. 19, Coiro said Veneziano was transferred to the Bergen County jail. Veneziano will be transported to a detention center in Massachusetts, according to the mayor.
“We don’t actually know the exact charges, because they haven’t been shared with us, but we do know from the prosecutor’s office that they would be felonies, if he’s convicted,” Coiro said on Dec. 21, according to NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. “We were quite surprised.”
In a statement on social media, the mayor said prosecutors had described the charges against Veneziano as "serious in nature and considered felonies."
After consulting two senior members of the borough's Public Safety Committee, Coiro said Veneziano was suspended without pay "until the legal process is concluded."
Coiro said the Totowa Borough Council will appoint an interim chief before the end of the year.
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Who is Carmen Veneziano?
Veneziano, a 1996 graduate of Passaic Valley Regional High School, began his career in Woodland Park — then West Paterson — only days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In January 2005, he was on security detail for the second inauguration of President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C.
In June of that year, he transferred to the Totowa Police Department. He succeeded Chief Robert Coyle, who retired at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 after four decades of service.
Philip DeVencentis is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. Email: [email protected]. For access to the most important news in your community, subscribe or activate your digital account.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New Jersey police chief charged with domestic assault and battery
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