MAYS LANDING  An Egg Harbor Township police officer admitted in court Friday that he solicited sex from a prostitute while on duty.

Township resident Richard Cavanaugh, 45, pleaded guilty to third-degree official misconduct and lost his job and pension, according to a statement from the state Attorney General’s Office.

The Police Department suspended Cavanaugh without pay in October, when investigators started looking into what they claim was a tryst with a prostitute in December 2007 at a motel on the Black Horse Pike in the West Atlantic City section of the township. Cavanaugh was in uniform when he drove in a squad car to the motel, where a prostitute performed a sexual act on him, according to the statement.

Cavanaugh worked his entire 23-year career with the Egg Harbor Township Police Department. His plea prevents him from ever seeking public employment again. Reached at his home Friday, he declined comment.

It is unclear why it took more than a year to charge Cavanaugh. That happened Friday, when he also pleaded guilty and resigned from the department, according to the statement.

The prostitute cooperated with authorities and was not charged, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Spokesman Peter Aseltine declined to comment on whether authorities contacted the prostitute before or after getting the tip that sparked the investigation. He also declined to name the motel.

Police Chief Blaze Catania declined comment beyond issuing a statement in which he called the incident “troubling.”

“This situation involves the behavior of one person. … In no way should it reflect on any of the 124 honest, truly dedicated, hard-working police officers and civilian employees that make up this police department,” he wrote in the statement.

Cavanaugh pleaded guilty Friday before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Albert J. Garofolo. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 29, according to the statement.

The state is seeking five years of probation under the plea agreement, the statement said.

Cavanaugh’s attorney, Louis Barbone, did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

This is not the first time Cavanaugh has been the subject of an investigation. A grand jury in 2002 cleared him of wrongdoing in the shooting of motorist Virgil Wright, then 41, after he attacked Cavanaugh during a traffic stop on the Black Horse Pike.

Cavanaugh had stopped Wright at about 9 p.m. July 29, 2002, near Garden State Fuel on the Black Horse Pike. As Cavanaugh was taking down Wright’s information, Wright started punching him, then reached for his gun. The scuffle continued and Cavanaugh fell. Wright then started kicking the officer. Cavanaugh then noticed a knife in Wright’s hand and fired two shots. Wright posted bail after being treated for his injuries and was a fugitive for about four years. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison on charges of assault and disarming a law enforcement officer.

Cavanaugh was honored in 1999 with a life-saving award from the Police Benevolent Association Mainland Local 77.

E-mail Emily Previti:

EPreviti@pressofac.com

Original article at: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/441498.html