TRENTON -- A New Jersey state trooper has been suspended without pay after an internal investigation found he was pulling over women to ask them out on dates and falsifying police records to cover it up, authorities said. Officials say the State Police Office of Professional Standards began investigating the trooper after several women lodged complaints about his behavior on the road. The investigation found "a pattern of pulling over young women between the ages of 20 and 35 and soliciting them to go on a date with him or give him their phone numbers," authorities said in a statement announcing his arrest. Prather is accused of turning off his wireless microphone during his encounters with the women and falsely reporting that it had malfunctioned. Marquice Prather, 37, of Linden, New Jersey was arrested Friday on charges of third-degree tampering with public records or information and fourth-degree falsifying or tampering with records. Robert Ebberup, an attorney for the trooper, said his client would plead not guilty. State payroll records show the trooper joined the statewide force in 2013 and makes an annual salary of $60,749. He was assigned to the division’s Holmdel barracks, which patrols the Garden State Parkway.
– Lots of people fall in love at work, but one New Jersey state trooper seemingly took this life goal to the extreme and is now paying the price for it. NJ.com reports that Marquice Prather, 37, was arrested Friday on records tampering charges and suspended without pay after authorities say he'd taken to pulling women over in their cars and asking them out on dates. He's also accused of trying to cover it up so he wouldn't get caught. Per CBS News, the three-year veteran of the force would target women between the ages of 20 and 35 and try to get their phone numbers or get them to go out with him, prosecutors say. Where the cover-up allegations come in: He's accused of falsifying the genders of people he pulled over in police logs so his pattern wouldn't be noticed, as well as of switching off the wireless mic he was wearing and reporting it hadn't been working right. (A fake cop pulled over a real one.)