Something odd about Neil Cohen's child porn case?

Ex-Assemblyman Neil Cohen.

Am I the only Plainfielder to think there's something odd about the handling of ex-Assemblyman Neil Cohen's child porn case?

The matter came to public attention when an image printout was shown by a staffer to Sen. Ray Lesniak and Asm. Joe Cryan, Union County pols and Dem party heavyweights last July. (Turns out there was an earlier instance to which they were privy.)

Cohen resigned within four days of the revelation.

There was no arrest, no 'perp walk'.

He simply disappeared from view, and was later learned to have signed himself into a private psychiatric hospital.

Unanswered to date is why he was treated differently from mere mortals, who would have been hustled onto the evening news post-haste.

But never mind all that.

The wheels of the Ingraham justice machine grind slowly and an indictment has at last been rendered, as noted today by New Jersey's major media (see links at end of post).

Lesniak and Cryan ducked any comment.

Cohen, who has had time to move from his hometown of Roselle to Paramus, could not be reached for comment.

Charlotte DeFilippo, powerful chair of the Union County Dem organization, is not mentioned at all in any of today's reportage.

And that's the part that strikes me as exceptionally curious.

You will recall that there were a spate of reports a few weeks ago that an indictment of DeFilippo was imminent.

The buzz was accompanied by rumors that Cohen was singing like a canary to the authorities.

And he might have a lot to sing about. Cohen and DeFilippo were -- what is the old phrase? thick as...?

Let's just say they worked closely together.

It may yet turn out that the rumors of a DeFilippo indictment are true.

After all, the Attorney General's office has had more than a year to examine the records they subpoenaed from her last year.

Or will it turn out that this is just New Jersey, and we will never hear another word about any of this?

Except of course for Cohen, who has been driven from the midst of the politically powerful like the scapegoat that he is, the bell around his neck tinkling, warning one and all to stay away.

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"Former Assemblyman charged with having child porn" -- Ledger | Courier | PolitickerNJ |

-- Dan Damon

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