Joseph Bell is accused of making phony reports about boaters in distress on the Passaic River Watch video
NEWARK -- A volunteer firefighter in Fairfield pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of calling in false reports about boaters in distress on the Passaic River on two occasions over the last six months.
Joseph Bell, 32, of Fairfield, entered the plea through his attorney, Gregg Wisotsky, when he was arraigned on two counts of making a false public alarm. Bell was arrested on March 21 and later released on his own recognizance.
During Tuesday's hearing, Municipal Court Judge Eric C. Acosta said that, as a condition of his release, Bell is prohibited from calling 911 for any non-emergency matters.
Wisotsky said at the hearing that he and Bell were "definitely considering" submitting an application for the state's Pretrial Intervention Program, a probationary program designed to provide rehabilitation for first-time offenders.
Under the PTI program, if Bell met certain conditions and completed the program, the charges would be dismissed and there would be no record of conviction. Joining the program does not represent an admission of guilt.
Bell has been suspended from the township's volunteer fire department, Chief Tim Connolly previously said. Bell has served with the department for 12 years, but his involvement with the squad tapered off during the last two years, Connolly said.
In both incidents, Bell allegedly used a marine radio to contact the U.S. Coast Guard station in Staten Island to report there were boaters in need of emergency assistance on the Passaic River, police said.
Each time, authorities searched the area and did not find any boaters in distress, police said. Also, in both cases, Bell was the only party reporting the emergency situation, police said.
The first incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. on Oct. 27, 2015, when Bell reported that a boat carrying one adult, three children and a dog had either capsized or tipped over in the Passaic River in the area of Lincoln Park and Fairfield, police said.
During the second incident, Bell reported at about 5 p.m. on March 15 that he was monitoring a distress call involving a boater in need of assistance, authorities said. Bell claimed two children and a father were trapped or injured, police said.
In a March 21 news release about Bell's arrest, Fairfield Chief of Police Anthony Manna thanked "all those police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, state troopers and Coast Guard personnel who either responded to these false reports in order to assure that someone was not actually in need of help or helped to bring this individual to justice."
"We committed to finding the individual responsible and today we did" Manna said. "Hopefully this will serve as a message to others that law enforcement takes seriously, false reports and we will do whatever we can to track down those who take valuable resources away from the general public."
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.