BY ERIKA NORTON
West Milford - Former West Milford Department of Public Works Superintendent Carlos Luaces was indicted this week on animal cruelty charges of killing two baby birds last summer.
A Passaic County grand jury returned an indictment charging Luaces with a single count of animal cruelty in the third degree, a crime punishable by a maximum fine of $15,000 and/or three to five years in prison.
Luaces, of Byram, is accused by the Passaic County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of having “purposely and knowingly poisoned a living creature with a chemical agent.”
He allegedly used a type of weed killer on a bird's nest with two baby robins, and another unhatched robin. The bird’s nest was sitting outside the DPW garage door, according to SPCA officer Alan Purcell.
On Sept. 8, Luaces pleaded not guilty to the animal cruelty charges in Pompton Lakes Municipal Court. After a court appearance in October, his case was referred to a grand jury.
According to Luaces’ lawyer, Gary A. Kraemer, they have received a large volume of discovery from the Prosecutor’s Office, including numerous witness statements and photographs.
“Mr. Luaces has proclaimed his innocence, and the discovery information provided by the Prosecutor’s Office to date backs up Mr. Luaces’s assertion that he is not guilty,” Kraemer said. “We look forward to Mr. Luaces’s complete vindication from this unsupportable charge at trial.”
Luaces was placed on paid administrative leave from the DPW on Aug. 7, when the animal cruelty charges first surfaced. On Aug. 21, when the SPCA filed the animal cruelty charges, Luaces was dismissed from his post as DPW superintendent.
He was appointed as superintendent of the department in April with an annual salary of $80,000.
A status conference is scheduled for April 4 in Superior Court in Paterson.