Pics allegedly show cops, under-21 females, drinking


EXETER – Borough officials are looking into photos that surfaced on the Internet that allegedly show a current and former borough police officer consuming alcohol with underage females.

Some of the photos, posted on the popular Internet site MySpace.com, depict part-time officer Joseph DeMark and former officer Dion Fernandes standing with several women, all of whom are allegedly underage, holding large red cups commonly used at beer-keg parties.

In another photo, DeMark, who was also under the legal drinking age of 21, is seen sitting on a couch with a woman, with several bottles of liquor and a can of beer on a table in front of them. DeMark also is depicted in a poolside photo with Sgt. Leonard Galli in which both men are holding cups that contain an orange beverage and swizzle stick.

The photos were obtained by attorney Barry Dyller as part of a federal civil-rights lawsuit he filed on behalf of William Slavoski, a U.S. Secret Service Agent who alleges Galli and Fernandes unlawfully arrested him because he had questioned their handling of an underage-drinking investigation involving his son.

On Friday, attorneys for the borough filed a motion seeking to prohibit Dyller from introducing the photos as evidence should the case go to trial, arguing they were not relevant to the case and would prejudice the jury against police.

Dyller said he has been able to confirm through independent sources that all the women in the photos were under the legal drinking age. In May, the photos were posted on the MySpace.com account of a person whom he did not identify. The pictures have since been taken down, he said.

Dyller said borough police Chief John McNeil was shown the photos in June, when Dyller took McNeil’s deposition as part of the lawsuit. Dyller said he asked McNeil if he planned to ask DeMark, whom McNeil confirmed was age 20 at that time, if the containers in the photos contained alcoholic beverages, and McNeil replied, “Yes.”

Whether McNeil conducted an investigation afterward could not be determined Friday. He did not respond to a phone message left at the police station. Attempts to reach him at home were unsuccessful.

Contacted Friday, Mayor Joseph Coyne and Councilmen P.J. Pribula and Joseph Esposito said McNeil never brought the issue up to council. The men said they did not even know the photos existed until told so by a reporter.

“This absolutely is news to me,” Pribula said. “As soon as we get off the phone I’m going to make some calls to find out who knows what.”

Pribula stressed he has not made a judgment regarding whether DeMark or the other officers did anything inappropriate.

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions,” Pribula said. “I want to know what the circumstances were. It’s easy to take a picture of someone sitting at a table with a bottle of beer.”

DeMark did not respond to a phone message left for him through his father Friday afternoon. Fernandes, who no longer works for the borough, could not be reached for comment. Galli declined to comment when reached at the police station Friday.


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