N.J. police chief pleads not guilty to kidnapping, domestic violence charges after alleged incident at Back Bay hotel

A New Jersey police chief pleaded not guilty to domestic violence charges Monday after prosecutors accused him of assaulting a woman at a Back Bay hotel early this year. 

Carmen Veneziano, 47, who leads the Totowa Police Department, faces one charge of kidnapping and three counts of domestic assault and battery in connection with the Sept. 14 incident. His bail was set at $25,000, with orders to stay away from the alleged victim and submit to GPS monitoring. 

According to prosecutors, Veneziano and the woman visited Boston for a Red Sox game in September, and the trip was going smoothly until an argument erupted at the hotel bar. 

“The trip went well until it didn’t, and things between them deteriorated in terms of how they were getting along,” Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum recounted during Monday’s arraignment. 

Veneziano left their hotel room for some time, returning in the early hours of Sept. 14 to find that the woman had locked him out using the deadbolt. 

“Veneziano spent the next half hour in the corridor, alternating between pleas to let him in and profane insults,” prosecutors wrote in a statement of facts.

Hotel security came to investigate the disturbance, and the woman purportedly allowed Veneziano back into the room and told the guards it was OK for him to stay.

Once the guards left, however, Veneziano allegedly continued to taunt the woman about her age, appearance, and prior relationships. Prosecutors said he pinned her to the bed and head-butted her, also pouring water on her and applying painful pressure to her armpit and pelvic areas. 

“The victim believed he did so in order to cause her pain without leaving marks,” prosecutors wrote. “When she tried to get off the bed and leave the room, Veneziano dragged her back by her legs.”

Prosectors: Police chief texted woman, ‘Please don’t get me in trouble’

When the woman began recording Veneziano with her cellphone, he allegedly “pounced” on her as the video cut to a scuffle. Prosecutors further allege he took the handset from the woman after she tried to use the hotel room’s landline to call down to the front desk. 

She was finally able to contact the front desk around 5:15 a.m. and requested a second room to put some distance between herself and Veneziano, according to the court document. Hotel security again responded to the room and called the Boston Police Department after they purportedly heard the woman tell Veneziano, “You hurt me!”

By the time Boston officers arrived, hotel staff had already moved the woman to another floor and Veneziano had allegedly tried and failed to access that floor with his keycard. He was on the phone with the woman when officers found him by the elevators, prosecutors said, and he acted nonchalant as he told them whatever happened was “not worth talking about.”

According to the statement of facts, he provided his driver’s license and police chief card when asked for identification. He also allegedly texted the woman, “Please don’t get me in trouble. I didn’t say anything about u.”

When she first spoke with police, the woman denied that Veneziano hit her, leaving the officers with no legal grounds to take further action, prosecutors explained. Veneziano allegedly told police he would take an Uber home, only to follow the woman to her car for a “long, awkward drive” back to New Jersey. 

Back home, the woman had an MRI scan that showed swelling and fluid in her shoulder, according to prosecutors. Meanwhile, Veneziano allegedly “barraged her with maudlin text messages and links to love songs.” 

When she sent him a text referring to his alleged “verbal and physical abuse,” prosecutors said Veneziano responded, “Shouldn’t matter coming from a ‘fat ass’ like me … according to you, you’re always the most beautiful girl that walks in the room … I’m just the ugly piece of garbage that walks in with you.”

The woman then contacted Boston police domestic violence investigators and explained she had been hesitant to report the alleged abuse due to “fear and misgivings about getting Veneziano in trouble,” according to prosecutors. 

The statement of facts points to a 2024 incident during which Veneziano allegedly reacted to a prior breakup by following the woman in his unmarked police cruiser, boxing her car in, and shouting at her. The couple ultimately rekindled their relationship last summer. 

Veneziano is a ‘pillar’ in his community, attorney says

Veneziano’s defense attorney, Paolo Corso, told the court Monday that since the incident in September, “there has been no further reports of any contact of any concerning kind.” 

Corso added: “He adamantly denies the allegations against him, and he looks forward to addressing these charges here in court.”

He noted Veneziano has been working in law enforcement for more than half of his life and does not have a criminal record “but for an [operating under the influence] conviction stemming from earlier this year.” 

Corso further described Veneziano as a “pillar” in his New Jersey community and said friends have hailed him as a “role model and a community leader in the town of Totowa.” 

In a message posted to the town’s website Sunday, Totowa Mayor John Coiro said he learned of Veneziano’s Massachusetts charges Friday and “immediately suspended Mr. Veneziano without pay until the legal process is concluded.” 

Coiro also told CBS News Veneziano was required to place a breathalyzer in his police vehicle as part of a plea deal in the earlier OUI case. 

“When this came to us on Friday, it was a shock to us because we didn’t know anything about it,” Coiro reportedly said of the new charges. “He had the respect of the men and women who work for him and the community, so I am surprised it went to this level.”

Veneziano is due back in court Feb. 10 for a pretrial conference.

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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