A sergeant with the state Attorney General’s Office was arrested last month when she allegedly kept trying to sneak into a North Wildwood bar several times after she had been kicked out.
Danielle Oliveira, 32, was charged with defiant trespass on Sept. 24, during the Irish Fall Festival. It was the same weekend police forces were stretched thin as an unsanctioned car rally spread chaos throughout neighboring Wildwood.
She told arresting officers that she worked for the State Police, which was captured on body camera footage obtained by BreakingAC.
But she is actually a sergeant with the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which is tasked “to investigate violations of public trust and to develop policies that would rebuild faith in both government and our criminal justice system,” according to the agency’s website.
Another member of the office, Lt. Cortney Lawrence, told North Wildwood Police Lt. Adam McGraw that her friend — who is poised for a promotion to lieutenant — investigates police-involved shootings in the northern part of the state.
In fact, Lawrence claimed it was a police-involved shooting that caused Oliveira to leave the bar and take a call outside.
BreakingAC was unable to find any evidence of a police-involved shooting that night. There also is the question of how a detective who was determined by police to be intoxicated would be on call for such an incident.
“It ended up being non-fatal, so we didn’t have to respond,” Lawrence tells the officer, which was captured on his body-worn camera.
The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to questions about that claim.
When the two women tried to go back into the bar, Lawrence said she was told Oliveira could not enter.
“I had no idea anything else happened,” Lawrence insisted.
Oliveira had already been escorted out of Keenan’s Irish Pub when Class II Officer Mitchell Calloway came by on foot patrol and saw her trying to get back into the bar as staff kept her out, according to his report obtained by BreakingAC.
“Staff advised me that she was not allowed to enter and that they wanted Mrs. Oliveira removed from their property,” he wrote.
But even after Calloway told her she needed to leave, Oliveira continued to stand at the exit and argue with staff, he wrote.
Both staff and the officer told Oliveira she had to leave “multiple times … before she reluctantly complied,” Calloway wrote.
When she walked away, he and a sergeant told her she would be arrested if she returned. About 10 minutes later, she again tried to go in the bar through the exit, he wrote.
There was no body camera video of those prior incidents, North Wildwood police confirmed.
“She was advised multiple times not to go back inside,” an officer tells another officer on the video. “She was thrown out beforehand. … She kept causing a scene.”
Oliveira was transported back to the station, after having her bag taken and being patted down by Officer Alexandra Gonzalez.
“I’m sorry, do not touch that bag,” Oliveira tells Gonzalez, later adding, “That’s a (expletive) four grand bag.”
Lawrence signed a release accepting custody of Oliveira.
“Obviously, someone sober has to sign her out,” she is told on camera.
It is not clear if Oliveira has faced any repercussions at her job as a result of the arrest.
“The Office of Public Integrity and Accountability is aware of this incident,” spokesman Dan Prochilo told BreakingAC. “It is the subject of an ongoing review and no further information will be released at this time.”
He would not comment on normal protocol for such an incident. A source told BreakingAC that she is still working with her full duties.
Oliveira also is treasurer on the New Jersey Women in Law Enforcement board, according to the group’s website.
