New Jersey State Police (NJSP)

By Sam Barron From Daily Voice

Two Hunterdon County residents have been arrested and charged after they falsely claimed multiple New Jersey state troopers sexually assaulted a man, authorities announced Tuesday, Dec. 9.

On Monday, Oct. 23, 2023, three New Jersey State Police troopers responded to a domestic dispute to a residence on Brunswick Avenue in Bloomsbury that Randal Kelco, 35 and Lisa DeStefano, 45, shared, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.

Kelco and DeStefano later told staff members at a hospital along with officers from two law enforcement agencies Kelco had been sexually assaulted by multiple troopers,  Platkin said.

An investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability Corruption Bureau and the New Jersey State Police Office of Professional Standards determined the attack neve occurred, Platkin said.

Body-worn cameras captured the interactions with Kelco, DeStefano and law enforcement who were on scene for 40 minutes, leaving the home at 4:36 a.m., Platkin said.

The footage also captured the troopers transporting Kelco to a nearby hotel before then leaving the scene without any further interaction with either defendant, Platkin said.

At 1:30 a.m., the next day, Kelco and DeStefano checked in at the Emergency Department of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where they both reported to the medical staff that Kelco had been sexually assaulted by the responding troopers the day before, Platkin said.

New Brunswick police officers responded to the hospital and spoke with the defendants who reiterated their account of the alleged assault and provided a detailed description of the purported crime, Platkin said.

The couple subsequently filed a complaint with the NJSP Office of Professional Standards against the troopers, and told a detective from that office during a November 6, 2023 interview that Kelco was sexually assaulted by the troopers, Platkin said.

There is no video evidence that shows any evidence of sexual assault, with recordings from body-worn camera and Kelco's cell phone contradicting their accounts, Platkin said.

Kelco and DeStefano are charged with making a false report to law enforcement, Platkin said.