Several South Jersey corrections officers fired for misconduct

• A corrections officer was fired and two were suspended following an inmate’s murder at Burlington County Jail.
• The incident was one of 817 major disciplinary actions against New Jersey law enforcement officers detailed in a new report.
• The report also noted terminations of other South Jersey corrections officers for offenses including excessive force and sexual misconduct.

One corrections officer was fired and two were suspended after an inmate was slain at Burlington County Jail in November 2024, according to a just-released report.

The fired officer, Nicholas Morton, failed to conduct required security tours during the hours of the alleged murder. He also didn’t tell his superiors that the attacker and his victim had previously asked to be placed in different cells, said the June 12 report from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

This incident was just one of 817 major disciplinary actions against 654 law enforcement officers, the agency says, detailing these findings in their 560-page report.

Former officer sentenced: Swedesboro man smuggled contraband into jail

It notes the terminations or other departures of at least a dozen corrections officers at South Jersey lockups.

That includes two officers accused of using excessive force on inmates in Camden County Jail, two accused of having sexual relationships with girls at a state juvenile facility and a prison officer who exposed himself for a selfie while on duty.

In the Burlington County case, Rondale Holloman, now 39, allegedly murdered his 74-year-old cellmate, Kenneth Bulle, in November 2024.

Hollomon told investigators that he punched Bulle, then strangled him with a T-shirt for approximately eight minutes. He said Bulle crawled back into his bed and breathed “very heavily” until he died, according to a probable cause statement.

Holloman said he waited “a few hours” before telling corrections officers about the attack at approximately 2:30 a.m. Nov. 15.

An internal investigation found that Morton had failed to conduct at least two security tours at half-hour intervals during his shift from Nov. 14 into Nov. 15.

“It was also discovered that Officer Morton neglected to inform his immediate supervisors that both inmates made a request to move out of the cell away from each other,” the report says.

Two other corrections officers, Sgt. Terrance Benson and Lieutenant Jonathan Carroll, received 15-day suspensions.

Benson, the shift sergeant at the time of Bulle’s death, “neglected to conduct a full and complete security tour of the facility,” the report states.

Carroll, the shift commander, “neglected to correct his subordinates, who did not call the code for the incident,” it says. That failure “delayed the custody and medical staff from responding to the scene with the proper equipment.”

Carroll also did not make “immediate corrective action on several entries in logbook that were made by his supervisors and officers on duty,” the report adds.

Holloman is currently awaiting trial on a murder charge. The charge is an allegation, and he has not been convicted in the case.

Holloman and Bulle were being held on charges stemming from violent attacks.

Bulle, a Mount Holly resident, allegedly stabbed a sleeping woman several times with a kitchen knife Oct. 1, 2024.

Holloman, a Burlington Township resident, was in jail for allegedly slamming a woman to the ground, then punching and kicking her during a domestic incident in September 2024.

Here are some other notable South Jersey incidents involving corrections facilities:

Camden County Jail

• Two officers were fired for using excessive force. The report says Tee Lormia struck an inmate in the head with a roundhouse kick, while Nicholas Taylor lifted an inmate from behind and slammed him to the ground. A third officer, Yamalis Diaz, was fired after pleading guilty to shoplifting.

Youth Justice Commission

• Gary Nieves and William Young were terminated after the senior correctional police officers (SCPOs) allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship “and established undue familiarity” with residents of the Juvenile Female Secure Care & Intake Facility in Bordentown Township. The former officers are charged with sexual assault of a victim under supervision and other offenses. The charges are only allegations, and neither has been convicted in the case. Young’s attorney, Robin Kay Lord of Trenton, said the officer “is absolutely innocent and they will owe him a ton of backpay shortly.” An attorney for Nieves could not be reached.

New Jersey Department of Corrections

• Courtlen Flax, an SCPO at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, was terminated in September 2025 in connection with an incident in April 2017. Flax allegedly punched an inmate in the face, “causing the individual to suffer a perforated eardrum and blurred vision,” the report says.
• Joel Munoz, an SCPO at South Woods, was dismissed following an investigation into an inmate’s death in December 2023. The investigation didn’t find Munoz was responsible for the death, but it revealed that his logbook entries were false compared to video footage of security checks.
• David Williams, an SCPO at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, was the subject of an internal investigation that produced images of the officer in uniform “taking a photo of himself with his penis exposed while on duty,” at a hospital, the report says. Another photo found on Williams’ phone, taken from a Bayside tower, showed the secured perimeter of the prison yard with incarcerated persons visible. Williams retired under a settlement agreement in April 2025.
• Robert Currey resigned as a Bayside SCPO in November 2025. The state had previously suspended his law enforcement license after Currey was charged with resisting arrest in a Cumberland County incident.

Cumberland County Jail

• Officer Sonya Lawrence was fired in August 2025 in connection with the discovery of illegal drugs and weapons during a search of her home by New Jersey State Police.
• Corrections Officer Robert Dawkins was terminated in May 2025 in connection with an October 2024 incident where one inmate threw liquid at another in the officer’s presence. A video showed Dawkins shaking an inmate’s hand at the end of the incident, the report says, noting that he didn’t log the event, notify a supervisor or inform his relieving officer.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.