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NJ probation officer is suspended after tussle with naked woman

A New Jersey probation officer has been suspended without pay after an alleged altercation in Camden with the naked and dripping-wet mother of a man on probation

By Joe Brandt
Philadelphia Daily News

CAMDEN, New Jersey — A New Jersey probation officer has been suspended without pay after an alleged altercation in Camden with the naked and dripping-wet mother of a man on probation.

Police said Arlena Cook was taking a shower on July 7 when Romero Lundy, an officer with the state’s Intensive Supervision Program, visited her home on Collings Road to check on her son Ladobe May-Garber, 21, who was on probation for a drug-possession arrest last year.

After Cook and Lundy argued about whether he was allowed in the house, the officer allegedly pushed Cook, who was still dripping wet and holding a towel around herself. Her towel fell down around her, she said.

“Pardon my French, but I’m standing here buck-ass naked, and this other cop is just staring in shock and disbelief,” Arlena Cook told the Daily News.

When Cook was in the shower, Lundy, accompanied by another officer, was downstairs announcing his presence and his intent to search the house, according to a Camden County Police Department report.

“I told him, ‘Just show me some respect and let me get dressed,’ and then he could search,” Cook told the People Paper.

According to the police report, Cook “forced her way into the personal space of Officer Lundy” and was shouting “get the f--- out of my house!”

“Maybe she was sharp with him, but I still don’t think that’s a reason to push her like that,” her husband, Woodrow Cook, told the Daily News. “If you’re naked, you’re defenseless.”

Lundy “just kept walking through the house,” Arlena Cook said. “I just wanted to put my clothes on, then they could do what they had to do.”

Cook said that she complained about Lundy to Ralph Esposito, the chief of the state program employing him, and that Esposito apologized for the officer’s conduct.

Reached at his office yesterday, Esposito declined to comment and referred questions to Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for New Jersey’s Administrative Office of the Courts.

Lundy, 50, of Burlington, is paid $84,496 a year, was hired in August 2009 and can appeal his suspension, Comfort said.

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