Middletown Police Officer Arrested, Accused Of Looking Up Woman On Database

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A Middletown Police officer was arrested and charged with illegally using a law enforcement database to look up a woman.

Tony Perito was arrested July 7 by detectives with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

He was charged with the third-degree crime of accessing data on a computer without authorization, according to Middletown Deputy Police Chief Paul Bailey.

Perito is accused of obtaining a mugshot of a woman on the database, and then posting that mugshot on social media on April 4. After his arrest, he was processed and released on a summons to appear in court.

Perito has been suspended without pay from the Middletown Police force until the charge is resolved. He has been on the Middletown Police force for the past nine years.

In 2022, Perito was commended by the Middletown Police Dept. because he intervened in stopping a crime while he was on vacation. He stopped a robbery in process at the Chesapeake House travel plaza on Interstate 95 in Maryland, according to this news report of the incident. The three suspects — two men who just happened to be from Keansburg and a third from Marlboro Township — punched a store clerk in the face. Perito, in the store at the time, intervened, said he was an off-duty police officer and drew his handgun on one of the suspects, according to the news report.

In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, Perito then put his gun away and was punched in the head, face and body by the three men, who fled. They were later apprehended.

That report: Police: Suspects assault off-duty officer, store clerk near North East (Cecil Daily, 2022)