Essex County prosecutor's sergeant accused of taking injured AP photographer's gear
On May 30, 2026, during clashes outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, AP photojournalist Angelina Katsanis was hit in the knee and left her camera bag, holding about $10,000 in equipment, while getting treatment. Her AirTag led to the Sparta home of Essex County Prosecutor's Office Sgt. Darryl Brown, 43; investigators searching it on June 3 found items labeled with her name and phone number, and his body camera showed him handling the bag. The Attorney General charged him on June 4 with third-degree theft, and the prosecutor's office suspended him without pay. The AG's office first withheld the body camera video, then released it July 31 after the Jersey Vindicator sued, while maintaining its denial was proper. The footage does not show what happened to the bag afterward. The criminal case is pending; Brown did not comment.
He has been suspended without pay, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Conduct that undermines the public's trust in law enforcement is unacceptable and will not be tolerated
The footage does not show what happened to the bag after the recording stopped.
Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II called the allegations "serious and concerning" and suspended Brown without pay.
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