Councilman Kerry Coley is suing Mayor Dwayne Warren over claims related to an explicit Facebook video
Orange Councilman Kerry Coley has filed a lawsuit against Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren and other defendants, alleging the mayor has published false claims about Coley exposing the public to pornography through an explicit video on Facebook. ORANGE -- As the two men prepare to face off in the Orange mayoral election next month, City Councilman Kerry Coley is suing Mayor Dwayne Warren over allegations that the mayor and others have falsely claimed Coley exposed the public to pornography through an explicit video on Facebook.
Coley is accusing Warren of defamation for allegedly making the false statements in a campaign mailer sent to city residents and on a website aimed at attacking Coley, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Essex County Superior Court.
The lawsuit also asserts the mayor committed invasion of privacy by improperly accessing Coley's internal affairs records from his time as a city police officer and publishing information from those records on the website and in a YouTube video.
Those actions allegedly occurred through a conspiracy involving Warren and a continuing political committee called American Future Leaders, or AFL, which is run by city employees, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses Warren of violating New Jersey's election law by working with AFL.
Through the lawsuit, Coley's attorney, Eugene Kim, said they are calling on a judge to order Warren and the other defendants to retract their false statements and to prohibit them from publishing the materials in question.
"He wants it to be clear that he didn't do what the other side is accusing him of, namely exposing the public to the pornography, and then the confidential internal affairs records should never have been out there in the first place," Kim said on Wednesday in a phone interview, referring to Coley.
"He wants his name cleared and he wants this to be a fair campaign, a level playing field basically," Kim added.
Orange spokesman Keith Royster said on Wednesday city officials declined to comment.
"Our legal department advises that since this issue has become a legal matter it would be inappropriate to comment at this time," Royster said in an email.
Coley, Warren and Janice Morrell are running for the mayor's seat in the May 10 non-partisan election.
In addition to Warren and American Future Leaders, the defendants named in the lawsuit include the city and the mayor's campaign committee, Friends of Dwayne Warren, as well as former City Business Administrator Willis Edwards III; Gracia Robert Montilus, an Assistant City Attorney; and Lena M. Taylor, the city's Director of Human Resources.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards was the former chairman of AFL, Montilus is the current AFL chairman and Taylor is the committee's treasurer.
A man who answered a phone number for Montilus on Wednesday said he was unavailable and took a message for him. Taylor said she was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment.
The legal battle stems from a video posted on Coley's Facebook page on July 26. The post, which depicted a man and woman having sex at a restaurant, was coupled with a caption reading "You'll NEVER eat at this restaurant again after watching this video!"
Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren, pictured above, is being sued by City Councilman Kerry Coley over allegations that the mayor and others have falsely claimed Coley exposed the public to pornography through an explicit video on Facebook.In the days afterward, Warren issued a statement criticizing Coley, but Coley said his Facebook account had been hacked and that he did not post the video.
According to the lawsuit, a mailer was distributed to Orange residents on March 5 that referenced the video, saying Coley had "sent out a pornographic video with his Facebook page."
"Instead of running for Mayor, Coley should apologize and resign," the mailer read, according to the lawsuit. "Orange needs positive role models to lead our City, not someone who exposes families to online porn."
The mailer indicates it was paid for by American Future Leaders, the lawsuit states.
In the weeks that followed, posts about Coley's internal affairs records and the Facebook video were published on the website, the lawsuit states.
On Thursday, the YouTube video about the internal affairs records was published, the lawsuit states. Referring to Coley as a "bad cop," the video claims he was "investigated by internal affairs over 30 times" and suspended for excessive force, among other issues. The video indicates it was paid for by AFL.
The website does not identify the creators of its content, but Coley is alleging Warren and AFL are behind it. The website features the YouTube video and the same language printed in the mailer, the lawsuit states.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.