Former Dumont Mayor Andrew LaBruno, who is charged with drugging and raping a teenage boy in November, will remain in the Bergen County Jail as prosecutors prepare to turn over additional evidence to his lawyer.
LaBruno, a Jersey City police sergeant, was arrested on November 17, two weeks after he lost a race for State Assembly in the 39th district.
On the day before Thanksgiving, Superior Court Judge Gary Wilcox denied bail to LaBruno, agreeing that he posed a risk to the community and the victim and might obstruct the ongoing criminal investigation – and that he identified himself as an on-duty police officer to police.
Prosecutors allege that LaBruno sprayed an unknown substance into his hand and placed it over the mouth of a teenage boy, causing the incapacitated victim to become dizzy, and then forced him to perform fellatio on him. He’s accused of committing an act of sexual penetration through the use of coercion and without consent, and knowingly engaging in sexual conduct with a child.
He was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault-force/coercion, and endangering-sexual conduct with a child.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Sarah Wilson said toxicology and serology reports and some body-worn cameras were already turned over, but there was an error in uploading some additional body-worn camera footage.
“We’ve had some preliminary, tentative plea agreement kind of discussions, but I think there’s some diligence on both of our ends that needs to be done prior to any real substantive plea negotiations,” said Wilson. “If we come to any sort of point prior to grand jury presentation that we think we could resolve this matter, we would ask for it.”
LaBruno has replaced his first lawyer, Kevin Corriston, who told Wilcox in November that LaBruno being on duty while allegedly committing the rape was immaterial because he was entitled to a lunch hour.
His new lawyer, Jeff Garrigan, said his experts are reviewing the reports now.
Superior Court Judge James Satterly has not yet set LaBruno’s next court date, and no request to release him was made today.
