Sgt. First Class Nadir Nassry, 48, of Phillipsburg, was sentenced to one year of probation and 75 hours of community service by Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz in Middlesex County.  Nassry, who led the March 30, 2012 caravan and enlisted a second trooper in the unauthorized escort, pleaded guilty on March 11 to a fourth-degree charge of falsifying or tampering with records.

In pleading guilty, Nassry admitted that he used black electrical tape to change the numbers on the license plates of his troop car in order to conceal his participation in the unauthorized escort.  Nassry, who had been a trooper for 26 years, agreed to forfeit his job with the State Police and be permanently barred from any law enforcement position or public employment in New Jersey.  The trooper who assisted in the escort, Joseph Ventrella, 29, a seven-year veteran of the force, also agreed to forfeit his job with the State Police and be permanently barred from law enforcement in New Jersey. He is pending enrollment in the Middlesex County Pre-Trial Intervention Program.

“We responded to this alarming episode by establishing new rules for trooper escorts and by reaffirming the high standards of the New Jersey State Police, standards that our troopers meet every day as they carry out their challenging duties to protect the public,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “The troopers involved in this unauthorized escort forfeited their law enforcement careers because they violated those standards, putting motorists at risk and discrediting the force. Beyond that, the sergeant who led the escort has today acquired a felony record that he will carry for life.”   

Deputy Attorney General Michael A. Monahan, Deputy Chief of the Corruption Bureau, handled the case for the Division of Criminal Justice.

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