Bergen County, New Jersey judge suspended 3 months for TikTok videos

The New Jersey Supreme Court suspended a Bergen County judge from his judicial duties without pay for three months after he was accused of committing three judicial conduct violations by posting “inappropriate” TikTok videos of himself -even over a period of two years.

The court ordered the suspension to last from October 8, 2024 to January 8, 2025.

The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed a complaint against Judge Gary N. Wilcox on June 30, 2023, accusing Wilcox of posting 40 videos between March 2021 and April 2023, lip-syncing vulgar song lyrics and wearing questionable attire, according to court documents. .

The complaint says 11 videos posted to his TikTok account, under the pseudonym “Sal Tortorella,” were deemed inappropriate because they showed the Bergen County judge lip-syncing songs that included references to violence, sex , misogyny and racist terms where Wilcox showed. in his judicial robes and/or partially clothed while lying in bed.

Robert Hille, Wilcox’s attorney, said, “Since the court has now ruled, we defer to the court,” when asked to comment on the case.

Some of the songs mentioned in the complaint were “Jump” by Rihanna, “Sure Thing” by Miguel and “Touch It” by Busta Rhymes. At least one video was filmed in Wilcox’s apartments, the complaint states.

Wilcox filed a response to the formal complaint on August 18, 2023, when he stated: “Defendant admits to using the platform, but does not consider himself an expert in its use and in customizing an account. » The document states that Wilcox “never intended for the post to be seen by the general public,” and subsequently changed his account setting to “friends only” or “followers only.”

In his response, the judge said the videos were recorded on his personal phone, during his personal time, and were intended for his personal use. The account was deactivated and Wilcox said in his response that he had no plans to renew the activity.

The violations listed in the Code of Judicial Ethics were as follows:

Canon 1, Rule 1.1, which requires judges to observe high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary can be preserved.
Canon 2, Rule 2.1, which requires judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
Canon 5, Rule 5. l(A), which requires judges to conduct their extrajudicial activities in a manner that would not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s ability to act impartially as a judge, would not demean the judicial function or would not interfere with the proper execution. judicial functions.

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