N.J. judge accused of groping woman testifies it was inadvertent
A suspended long-time North Bergen municipal court judge accused of groping a woman in his law office testified before a state panel Wednesday that the touching was inadvertent. Nino Falcone, 80, was charged criminally with groping a woman who worked for a client of Falcone’s in 2019. He was immediately suspended by the state Supreme Court and in June 2021 he was brought up on judicial charges stemming from the incident.
The nearly three-hour virtual hearing was in front of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct this Wednesday ... The charges were not related to the municipal court and the alleged victim was not a township employee. According to testimony and other documents, the woman went to Falcone’s law practice office on Aug. 29, 2019, related to some work Falcone was doing for her employer. During a conversation the woman mentioned to Falcone that she had been down the shore for her birthday and as their business concluded, Falcone wished her happy birthday and approached her for a hug. The judge said he inadvertently touched “the side of her breast while disengaging from a hug.”
The victim gave a much more detailed account. “I felt uncomfortable and went towards to give him a halfway hug,” she testified. “(Falcone) came and he pulled me in towards him and that’s when he started rubbing my back up and down, and that’s when I pushed away ... but as I pushed away his hands went on the side of both ... breasts. He went real tight and that’s when he went to the front and he squeezed my breasts and I pushed him away,” she said as she started to sob recalling the incident. “And that’s when he grabbed my wrist. I started going like ‘No! No!’ and he’s like ‘Let me touch you. Let me play with you.’ And I’m ... going back and all I could think about trying to get out of the office because he’s a heavy guy and he’s grabbing my wrist.”
The woman then testified that Falcone only let go of her wrist to take out his wallet and say “Here, you want some birthday money?” She told the committee that she “ran down the steps and ran to my office and immediately ran to the back and that’s when I told my boss.”
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/01/nj-judge-accused-of-groping-woman-testifies-it-was-inadvertent.html
